Obstruct
by Need Your Venom
Summary: Ash turns up on time, but as fate would have it, there isn't enough pokémon for everyone. Instead of getting the preferable bulbasaur, Ash gets stuck with a pokémon Professor Oak was previously studying. A Galarian zigzagoon.
1. Meeting

**Obstruct**

* * *

_1._

_Meeting_

* * *

If there was a day as important as his birthday, it was no doubt today. Sure — while the day he was born was the start of his existence, today was the start of the rest of his life. After all, today was the day Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town would be getting his partner pokémon.

The usual rule of having to be pubescent hadn't been enforced in several decades, so since Ash and three other trainers had recently turned ten, they were allowed to venture the world so long as they had a reliable pokémon to accompany them in the journey.

In Pallet Town, a small, rural country-side spot near the border of Johto, Professor Oak was the one tasked with the handing out of starters. Other towns and cities had to receive their starters from Gym Leaders, parents, and even nearby academies. There was, however, one benefit to getting a starter from Professor Oak.

The Professor of Pokémon, despite holding a wide variety of pokémon on his land, handed out only a select few.

Though that would be a let down to most, it ensured no trainer would be getting a pokémon to advanced for them. Each had weaknesses and strengths that made them all good and bad choices. There was no good starter that would work for any one person. It also helped when considering the future of the partnership.

Though charmander appeared appealing to most given how it evolved into the almighty charizard, the fire-type was testy, disobeying those it deemed unworthy of using its powers. Many trainers had even been killed by unruly charmeleon who were none too happy about being ordered around. So despite charizard's sheer amount of power and abundant move pool, Ash simply couldn't take the risk of being killed by his pokémon.

The next obvious choice was squirtle, who later evolved into blastoise. Blastoise had both power and defenses to back it up. Its shell was nigh indestructible and offered an unexpected power in physical offensive moves. It also had a respectable move pool with moves to back up its weaknesses. ice beam and blizzard were easily some of the most beneficial moves blastoise to learn to oppose grass-types, but the move all blastoise trainers sought was earthquake. A high powered and fast-moving technique developed through the sheer weight of the pokémon and power of the earth. It dealt with electric-types faster than the speedy type could manage to oppose.

Ash would love to take squirtle as his partner. The only issue of the matter was Gary Oak, the grandson of Professor Oak. Gary had his eyes on squirtle since they could recognize the starters, so there simply wasn't a hope that Ash could receive that pokémon. Professor Oak, though not favoring one trainer over the other, would no doubt look to his grandson's desires before the others. And Ash couldn't blame him. Gary was the Professor's _grandson_, after all.

That left but one choice. The least picked and most neglected of starters Professor Oak had to offer. Bulbasaur. Ash's personal pick. Though venusaur lacked the powerful moves and overall strength that could be seen in charizard and blastoise, venusaur was not a bad choice. The grass/poison-type had great defenses and a good handful of utility moves that would only make capturing other pokémon and bringing opponents to their knees all the more simple. If Ash could teach venusaur the powerful poison move toxic, venusaur would have no issue whatsoever crippling even those it proved weak against. When coupled with leech seed, it would become a deadly and infuriating combo.

Yeah.

Ash was picking bulbasaur.

With his mind made up, Ash rushed downstairs and into the kitchen to find his mother preparing breakfast. Though that would normally be his wake up call, Ash had made sure to set his alarm clock extra early to ensure he got there on time to pick his partner, so when he mother turned around, her eyes briefly widened before she smiled.

"I see someone's up early. Are you eating breakfast first or heading out?"

Ash blinked. That was surprising. "If you don't mind, I'd like to head out first." Of course, he could always wolf down his breakfast, though he feared that would only irritate his mom more than if he just headed out.

"It's your day. Don't worry, I'll prepare something extra special for the little one you bring home."

Ash almost cringed at the wording. His mom made it sound as though he were bringing his own spawn home. He supposed bulbasaur could be considered something of a child to him but he'd much prefer it being called his partner or friend over his child. That was just awkward. "I'll be back soon," he called, waving as he left as quick as humanly possible.

Once out of his house, there was a sense of freedom. He'd never been able to walk out of the yard before today due to his mother's strict rules. In fact, most of the time his mom would be supervising him even then. A part of him couldn't blame her with the constant threat of the legendary birds parading around the region. Though Ash had never seen the legends himself, he knew they were out there, having heard stories from Professor Oak of the rare encounters he's had with Moltres and Zapdos. Though the more allusive Articuno was nowhere in his tales.

He quickly picked up the pace, making it the Professor Oak's lab in no time. There were a few people there already. Daisy Oak, Gary's sister was there, likely having been ordered by Gary to see him off to his journey. There was another family there as well that Ash had never met or even seen in Pallet Town. He supposed they were there to see Damian off. After all, Ash had never seen Damian's family before.

Ash frowned at the thought of Damian. The rather confusing boy would be getting charmander for the sole reason that charmander had a high value on the trading scale. Ash couldn't even begin to imagine trading away his first partner for even the rarest of finds.

Ash made it through the small crowd, simply waving in Daisy's direction as she barely acknowledged him. So he was likely last.

He gulped, now worried that he might be keeping everyone waiting. He bolted up the stairs to the lab and quickly entered without bothering to knock. He was quickly met with the likes of Gary and the Professor. However, to his surprise, Damian had yet to show. Instead, a girl with brown hair and eyes covered by a short-brimmed league sun hat; a style Ash had no idea the league still produced. She was slim and rather short and wore a blue tank top and red skirt that had Ash's eyes lingering a bit too long for his liking.

He inwardly shook his head clear of those thoughts and stepped up, picking the spot next to his rival instead of the space next to the stranger.

"It's about time you got here," Gary said. "Should've picked your friend on the way here."

Ash scoffed. "He's not my—"

"Glad we can agree on something."

Ash turned and cringed when he saw Damian. Shoot. He could feel his face heat up as he realized he took Gary's bait. There went any chances of acting friendly toward any of his rivals.

Professor Oak ignored the little stunt his grandson pulled and cleared his throat to catch the four's attention. "Now, as you all know, today is the day you can officially leave home to begin training pokémon so from this day forth you will be each others' rivals in one way or another. Compete, friendly or otherwise, to achieve your dreams as a trainer. Nothing less is expected of you."

Simply put — be war-ready.

With the recent peace treaties being threatened by the evil organizations of Hoenn and Sinnoh, there was a huge need for war-ready trainers being ready for the fight of their lives. It was up to those handing out starters to ensure there was a sense of competitiveness in all young trainers so they could get a taste of victory and hardship in case war broke out among nations. The only two nations that assured absolute peace with Johto and Alola. Johto because they were under the same Pokémon League, and Alola due to their astoundingly peaceful nature. Anywhere else, no matter the peace treaties' promises, could be a threat.

"These are the three starters I have prepared for the three most competent trainers here. The last one will receive a different pokémon after everyone else has their own." He motioned with his hand to the three pokéballs.

That was news to Ash. He shouldn't have been concerned considering he was no doubt classed as competent with Gary, but the match between Damian and the unnamed girl would be questionable. She didn't look ignorant to pokémon in the least. Damian wasn't the most intelligent of people.

"The starters are bulbasaur, the grass/poison-type; charmander, the fire-type; and squirtle, the water-type. Now. The first to choose is Gary Oak."

Gary smirked. He knew he had first pick, but the confirmation was all the more ego-boosting. He grabbed the pokéball closest to him. It had the kanji for 'water' on it. As Ash expected. Gary released Squirtle, who came out in a beam of red.

Gary looked down at his new partner. "You're gonna be powerful, aren't you?"

Squirtle smirked in return and snapped his jaws open and closed with a loud sound.

"That's what I like to hear!"

Professor Oak grinned at the interaction. He'd made sure to pick the most spirited squirtle of the clutch. He had no doubt Gary would raise the water-type correctly and make it as a trainer worthy of the recognition the second most competent trainer of Pallet Town. Though irritated that Gary wasn't at the top, Professor Oak knew that would change in due time. "It looks like you and Squirtle will no doubt be great partners." He turned to the girl he'd yet to introduce to the boys. "Now, Leaf, this is your first time in Pallet, but you are still one of our most competent trainers that we've seen in nearly a decade."

Leaf grinned as she lifted her eyes to meet the Professor's. They were forest green with a menacing gleam in them. "Thank you, sir. I do appreciate the recognition."

Gary scoffed quietly and whispered: "Some ego she has."

Before Ash could call hypocrisy, Professor Oak said: "That's enough, young man. She's as much of your rival as Ash and Damian are." He then turned back to Leaf, who now wore a grim look. "Apologies. Now, you may choose between either charmander or bulbasaur."

Ash tensed while Damian narrowed his eyes at the girl. It would be one or the other not getting their desired starter. Even if Ash was picked next, there was still a chance of him getting a starter he had no true desire to train. Sure, he would train it if that's what was left, but it wasn't the pokémon he prepared so long for. And then if Leaf picked charmander and Ash did get Bulbasaur, that left Damian without a pokémon he could be sure had the worth that he wanted.

"I pick bulbasaur."

All of Ash's hopes deflated at that moment.

As if this wasn't a huge moment of shock for Ash, Professor Oak offered another grin and handed the 'grass' kanji-marred pokéball to Leaf. The girl eagerly took it and let out Bulbasaur in the same manner Gary had. The bulbed grass-type starter emerged and looked up to see Leaf. It tilted its head and looked at Professor Oak.

"That's your new trainer."

Bulbasaur's jaw fell slack and he met Leaf's eyes , who smiled and knelt.

"What do you say?" Leaf said, a certain joy in her voice previously missing. "Let's be friends and take on the world together."

She held her hand out, which Bulbasaur took with a rather clumsy vine. Leaf gave a small laugh and shook hands, or vines? With the tiny grass-type that Ash wouldn't be taking as his partner.

Bulbasaur was the least popular starter and even then, Ash lost it. How could that happen? And he lost it to a girl new to Pallet Town. Had he been informed of the new arrival, he might have worked on learning the skills of a charizard. Even still, he didn't want to go with the most predictable choice. Everyone who's ever given the choice goes for either squirtle or charmander. As it's most renowned that Gary's father had a blastoise, it was obvious Gary would go for the same. Leaving Ash for the most obvious charizard.

Professor Oak's grin never left as he watched the interaction between trainer and pokémon. When he turned to see a rather sullen-looking Ash, he wondered what the issue was. "And now, Ash, you can take Char—"

"Give it to Damian." The words came out before Ash even knew what he was saying. A round of 'huh's and 'what's sounded around him. Once he realized his words, he added with a forced grin: "Yeah. Damian can have Charmander. I'll take whatever you have left, Professor."

It sounded as though he was immediately giving himself a disadvantage with handing over could easily be one of the most powerful pokémon of Kanto, but he considered that perhaps he could get a bulbasaur or even a squirtle from the remaining clutches. He knew the Professor had more than enough.

Professor Oak was stunned that any trainer, much less Ash, would turn down the chance to train a Charmander. Alas, it Ash wanted Damian to have it, he wouldn't say no. "Er, okay. That's mighty generous of you, Ash. Here, Damian."

Damian took it with little interest.

"Are you not going to see it?" Leaf said, likely more interested in seeing the apparently dreaded fire-type an up and coming trainer didn't want.

"Oh. Right."

Right.

He let the little fire lizard out of its pokéball and knelt in front of it, much like how Leaf did. Rather than say a word to it, he cupped the thing's bottom jaw and snapped it open to expose its tiny, dagger-like fangs. With his other hand, he felt of the sharp teeth, seeming satisfied. He then stood up when Charmander began growling, recalling who no one in the room suspected would be Damian's true partner.

"He'll be fine," Damian said.

Ash suddenly felt a surge of guilt for having not taken the fire-type who surely wouldn't receive the training it needed to succeed. He could only hope Damian would find a worthy trainer to trade Charmander away to.

"All right." Professor Oak didn't appear worried judging by his usual tone of voice. "Gary, Leaf, recall your pokémon."

Leaf looked disappointed, but did as told, standing herself back up in a confident position that appeared to match Gary's, who recalled Squirtle despite his clear annoyance with a loud sigh.

"As you know, I have created a vast pokémon encyclopedia dubbed the PokéDex." Oak stepped over to a counter, opening the drawer to pull out four of the devices he spoke of. One green, one blue, one red, and the last one black. Aside from their color, they look identical, with expensive-looking plastic that glistened with the bright lights of the lab and a button in the front that Professor Oak demonstrated would open the dual-screened device. The screens came to life.

A robotic voice came from the speakers: "This is Dexter. The rookie trainer, Gary Oak, has been automatically registered to this device. Should I be lost, please return me to the nearest pokémon center.:"

Gary took his PokéDex — the blue one — and stared in some wonderment at the device. "Rookie trainer... Not for long! Squirtle and I will make a name out of ourselves."

"Until you have received your third badge or ribbon, you will be classified by the most people as E-rank trainers, or rookie trainers," Professor Oak explained. "After that, you will be D-ranks, then when you have collected either six badges of five ribbons. Once you enter a league to become a B-rank and so forth. The max rank known is S-rank, as a Champion."

Gary grinned. "That sounds like a good rank to me."

"The PokéDex will keep track of all the locations you've been in, the pokémon you have scanned, and the moves your pokémon have. Why don't you three test that feature? I believe you'll be quite pleased with the moves your starters already have." The Professor handed the PokéDexes to the three, Leaf taking the green one and Damian taking the basic red one everyone is usually shown having in the ads on television.

The three were eager to do just that, even Damian. They let their pokémon out and quickly went to scanning them.

_"Squirtle, the Tiny Turtle Pokémon. Its shell is not merely used for protection. The shell's rounded shape and the grooves on its surface help minimize resistance in water, enabling this pokémon to swim at high speeds._

_"The squirtle has the ability Torrent and knows the moves: Tackle, Water Gun, Withdraw, and Dragon Pulse."_

Gary's jaw fell before he smirked. "Damn, Squirtle! Dragon Pulse? How'd you come about that move?"

"Language," Oak warned. "Dragon pulse is an egg move that, though not mastered, is accessible and taught by your father's rhyperior and—"

"I knew he was hiding something from me," Gary said laughing as he recalled Squirtle. He pocketed his PokéDex. "That old man and his ways of reaching out. If that's all you're gonna give me, I'm gonna go call him and thank him."

Before Professor Oak could say something else, Gary was out the door and likely already bugging Daisy about calling their father. Not that Professor Oak would've denied Gary's request to leave. Contact between Gary and his father was a rare thing; the Professor would never deny them the chance of even a short call if it meant something to either of them.

Damian was next to scan his pokémon. The voice had an accent much like his own:

_"Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. The flame that burns at the tip of its tail is an indication of its emotions. The flame wavers when Charmander is enjoying itself. If the pokémon becomes enraged, the flame burns fiercely."_

Damian winced at that, but the PokéDex continued: _"This charmander has the ability Blaze and knows the moves: Ember, Scratch, Smokescreen, and Dragon Rush."_

"That was informative," Damian said as he recalled Charmander. "Thank you, Professor. May I leave as well?"

The Professor nodded, and Damian was out the door.

Leaf smiled. "My turn! Let's see what Bulbasaur is capable of."

A female voice spoke: _"Bulbasaur, the Seed Pokémon. It can be seen napping in bright sunlight. There is a seed on its back. By soaking up the sun's rays, the seed grows progressively larger._

_"This bulbasaur has the ability Overgrowth and knows the moves: Tackle, Leech Seed, Vine Whip, and Sludge."_

"That's amazing, Bulbasaur!" Leaf complemented as she knelt to pet Bulbasaur, who accepted the affection with what appeared to be a rather content expression. "All right, let's go!" She didn't recall her pokémon or ask for permission like either Gary or Damian did, instead running out of the lab with Bulbasaur following in his rather slow steps.

Ash couldn't help but sigh. Finally. Leaf was gone. Though Ash wasn't a bitter person, he couldn't help but feel a little angered that the partner he'd looked forward to for so long was snatched right under his nose. Had Professor Oak just said his name before Leaf's he would've gotten the pokémon he wanted. So perhaps it'd make more sense to be mad at Professor Oak, but it wasn't the Professor's fault a new trainer came in or that she chose the starter Ash had wanted for so long.

"Ash, might I ask why you handed Charmander over to Damian?" Professor Oak said, tearing Ash away from his angry debate on who to be angry with. "I know you wanted bulbasaur, but charmander is by no means a bad starter choice."

"I know that, but Damian's my friend. He wanted charmander from the start." Even if it was for the wrong reasons.

Professor Oak hummed in consideration. "True in the latter regard. However, I recall you only ten minutes ago claiming Damian wasn't your friend."

"He's... He _is_ my friend. I just don't agree with him on what he thinks of pokémon," Ash said.

"Not agreeing is common amongst friends, so why tell Gary he's not your friend when that's not how it is?" Professor Oak asked as if this were an interrogation.

Ash couldn't, for life of himself, figure out why the Professor was butting into ten-year-olds' issues but decided to answer truthfully. "Because opinions with pokémon grow out of proportions." They break the world apart, regions apart, families apart. Ash wasn't about to say that, though. Those words would ring far too true for the Professor. "It's safest to keep friends as far away as possible." So you don't break them apart in the process.

Professor Oak neither grinned or frowned as he nodded in agreement with a sound of consideration. "I believe I have the right pokémon for you." He walked away, and Ash quickly followed.

Though Ash felt Professor Oak was trying to lighten the mood from the philosophical moment Ash offered, there was a thick air around them even as they stepped into a room full of pokéballs. Ash had been in the room before, but had never truly admired the sheer about of pokémon the Professor was set to look after. Every pokémon, besides perhaps snorlax and other sleepy pokémon, had to be let out everyday to eat and exercise. Though Professor Oak had a handful of assistants, they were mostly for organizing the office, cleaning, and sorting through mail. So it was most often just Professor Oak having to go through each and every pokémon, let them out, feed them, and then recall most of them that didn't do well when unsupervised. But Ash was confused. This was the area the Professor held other people's pokémon.

Though the desire to request a specific pokémon was still in his mind, curiosity got the better of him, and he bit back the request when he noticed a pokéball sat on the table right next to the Professor's computer system. That was the one. Ash knew it.

Oak confirmed that by picking it up. "I think it's best you see it before I tell you what it is." There was a small smile plastered across his face again. As if he were a young trainer again, he tossed the ball into the air, the barrier of the ball colored with a bright blue beam before it emerged with the same energy.

What landed on the tile floors gave a pitter-patter with long claws as opposed to the thick paws and webbed feet of the other starters.

Ash's eyes grew wide as the little monster let out a rumbling growl, bordering a roar.

It was low to the ground, short legs not visible under the draping black and white fur that was layered in alternating colors. Its claws, almost longer than charmander's, were white with the front paws and black in the back. Fur looking both coarse for protection and soft enough to easily run fingers in shown as brightly as the black PokéDex Ash held. Its tail was short but bushy, not looking like too much of a weapon yet, but Ash felt that could be changed. Its ear twitched as it looked around. And its face... The most noticeable feature of the little monster was the mask it wore around its eyes, star-shaped, and the long, thin tongue lolling out of its mouth, careful to avoid those short, needle-like fangs it showed off. It was only when the creature opened its eyes that Ash noticed the deep pink color.

It was perfect.

The black and white pokémon spotted Ash as soon as it opened its flashy eyes. The corners of its mouth quirked into a goofy-looking grin. It charged to one side with a single step, and then the next charge in the other direction. A zigzag pattern that could prove unpredictable. Claws clicked against the floor as Ash knelt down to meet the pokémon as he thought the little one was doing. However, it quickly bound into the air, tackling the boy. Ash caught it in a hug, believing that it was already accepting it.

Then it began tugging on the string of Ash's jacket.

"Hey! This jacket wasn't cheap!" Ash snapped.

The pokémon snapped right back, snatching Ash's hand with its fangs.

"Ow! You're not as nice as I thought you were." Ash pried the tiny mouth off his hand, only for the pokémon to wag its tail wildly, swiping its surprisingly slobbery tongue over Ash's face. Ash resisted the urge to say 'eek!'. "How is your tongue that wet if it's hanging out?!"

Professor Oak chuckled at the two's interactions. "Zigzagoon looks rather pleased."

Ash pushed Zigzagoon away as best he could to look at Professor Oak. "If this is him being pleased, I dread seeing him happy. Ow! Not again!"

Zigzagoon had Ash's hand in a far tighter grip this time.

"Zigzagoon is a female. It's not wise to misgender a pokémon."

"Oh. Zigza— Let go!" Ash finally removed the pesky pokémon from his hand. She hisses at him as she jumped out of his lap. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't know. We're gonna be partners from here on out, so forgive m—"

Zigzagoon was all too forgiving, bouncing back onto Ash with another sloppy swipe of the tongue to the face. This time, Ash couldn't help but smile and laugh at what would hopefully not be a common occurrence. Once Zigzagoon calmed, settling in Ash's arms, Ash stood, holding his new partner.

"Zigzagoon is awesome, Professor! But I have to ask why you have one in your office," Ash said as he busied himself by petting Zigzagoon.

Oak smiled as he took a seat at his desk. "Well, you see, this Zigzagoon is not the usual zigzagoon found in Kalos and Hoenn. This little lady is from Galar."

"Galar?" Ash said, eyes wide. He looked down at Zigzagoon. A Galarian zigzagoon...

The Professor nodded. "Yes. After our recent treaty and alliance, they were kind enough to send a few pokémon my way to study. I also have their primary starters and a new form of weezing that's only ever been seen there."

That was all news to Ash. Galar was the last region he expected a peace treaty to be formed with Kanto. And to offer a handful of pokémon? That was unheard of outside of Kalos, who the Galar region was quite close with. "I'm guessing they're keeping the secrets of dynamaxing?"

Another nod. "Yes, but this is quite a feat between regions. One that hasn't even been announced to most of the Kanto region. League executives, myself, and few others know of this. I didn't intend to give Zigzagoon to you, but I suspect that you can bring out the potential Galar was so sure I'd never be able to find in her.

"As you probably know, I have a lot on my hands right now. Far too much for me to put much focus on Zigzagoon. I no longer train for a reason. Modern methods just aren't a part of my ways."

Ash nodded understandingly. Pumping drugs into pokémon was now frowned upon and with the recent outlaw against rare candies, there were few methods outside of constant strain to speed a pokémon's evolution. Ash smirked. "You have my word that I'll bring out every bit of Zigzagoon's potential and help her reach her final form!"

Zigzagoon hissed, digging her claws into Ash's arm.

"Ah! What's wrong now?"

"Perhaps she wants a name," Professor Oak suggested.

Zigzagoon's tail went wild as she looked up to Ash with that goofy grin.

"A name? Oh. Um. Maybe... Star?" Ash considered.

Hiss.

"Ruby?"

Scratch.

"Ow... Is Ziggy good?"

Bite.

"Ow! Okay, okay! Is Izzy any better?"

Just when Zigzagoon was about to shake her head with Ash's hand still trapped in her mouth, she paused and let go of him, choosing to lather a stripe of slimy drool over Ash's face again. Ash's nose creased in disgust.

"Ew, gross! Okay, your name is Izzy!"

Izzy stopped and smiled. A small but happy growl left her as she settled back into Ash's hold.

Ash sighed, happy she calmed. "Now. Why don't we scan you to see just what moves you have?" He pulled out his PokéDex.

* * *

**A/N: I love Obstagoon! Absolutely brilliant of Nintendo to pull that move at such a controversial moment of Pokémon. A regional variant the has a new evolution. Genius. I did not see that coming. I'll most definitely be purchasing Pokémon Sword, and once I've spent time with Obstagoon, I'll write the next chapter.**

**Now about Damian. Is he the same one from the anime? Yes, and no. He's based on the same character, but he's not completely him. I know it's hard seeing him with Charmander, but I promise he's not completely as he is in the anime. He's an experiment of mine to see just how well I can develop characters. I really think if you give me a chance, I can surprise you with him. It's not a complete sob story or anything like that. Just something you've never seen in a Pokémon character. Give the story a chance. If the first few chapters don't show you I'm capable of developing a character like Damian, I'll take the flames.**


	2. A Budding Start

**Obstruct**

* * *

_2._

_A Budding Start_

* * *

The mechanical male voice began:

_"Zigzagoon, the Tiny Raccoon Pokémon. This zigzagoon hatched in Galar, resulting in a different form normally seen in its species. The zigzagoon of the Galar region move about however they like and never settle down. It's speculated that the zigzag movements of the zigzagoon in other regions stem from the restless nature of Galarian zigzagoon. Galarian zigzagoon enjoy battles and charge at people and other pokémon in an attempt to provoke a fight, but humans tend to think Galarian zigzagoon is just playing or showing affection._

_"Zigzagoon has developed the dark-type when hatched in Galar._

_"This zigzagoon is female, nicknamed Izzy by rookie trainer Ash Ketchum. She has the ability pickup, which enhances her instincts to pick up goods and valuables around her. She knows the moves: tackle, bite, growl, and headbutt."_

Ash resisted the urge to whistle in amazement at the impressive selection of moves Izzy had. For a pokémon with little to no training, those moves were nothing less than a statement of how powerful Izzy was and would become when she evolved into a linoone. Anyone willing to scoff at that moveset was a fool, though Ash suspected Izzy would need to add more to her arsenal before she would become the monster the PokéDex went on about. Given how versatile the normal-type was, Ash had no doubt that could be fixed. The dark-type was also a great addition. Though it gave her a few more weaknesses, especially toward fighting-types, it did give Izzy a huge advantage against psychic-types. Then the common but useful ability pickup — Izzy was shaping into a menace already.

"That was a long entry," Ash commented. "But at least now I know a lot more about Izzy." He shut the PokéDex and pocketed it before moving to pet Izzy's head. A tiny rumble came from deep within her chest as she twisted her head around for a mock attack of Ash's hand.

Professor Oak appeared embarrassed. "Well, you see, I have yet to shorten the PokéDex for Galarian zigzagoon. I've been too busy studying weezing as of late, but I'm sure once the 'Dex has connected to the Galar servers, you'll get a more defined entry."

That was true. The Professor only knew as much as Izzy let on, and what she couldn't control. Professor Oak must have found out Izzy was a dark-type when Alakazam couldn't bend her mind. And Izzy must have been angry when the Professor didn't take her challenge when she first ran up to intimidate him. Much like when she charged at Ash.

Ash wondered what the Professor found out about Galarian weezing, and even the primary starters of the Galar region. He knew he wouldn't get any answers, though. With how new the treaty was, Professor Oak even giving Ash Izzy was testing it already. As long as Ash didn't do anything too spectacular until the peace between regions went viral, there wouldn't be harm in him having Izzy. The likelihood of him making a name of himself until then was slim to none.

Professor Oak handed Izzy's pokéball over to Ash. As Ash took it, he couldn't help but take a sharp breath. This was it. Izzy was officially his first pokémon. His partner. The first of many who would be family. He lifted it to eye level and grinned.

Finally.

Ten years into his existence, and his life was finally starting. The way the ball gleams with the light promised him a bright future to come.

He looked at Izzy, still set in the crook of his arm. "This is the start of our journey. We're gonna grow and reach our absolute. I hope you're ready, Izzy."

The dark-type smiled widely, flicking her tongue over Ash's face to what he thought was something close to inspirational. With the expected 'eek!' from her trainer, Izzy jumped out of Ash's arms and ran out the room door.

Ash's eyes went wide. "Hey! Izzy, get back here!" He gave Professor oak one final glance. "Thanks, Professor! I appreciate everything!" before he bolted after Izzy, following her into the primary area of the lab to ensure she didn't get into something she wasn't supposed to.

Professor Oak chuckled as he shook his head. Ash had a lot of work on his hands already, but if any of the four rookies could handle it, Oak had no doubt that it was Ash.

* * *

After Ash caught up to Izzy and recalled her, he walked out of the lab. His silly, happy smile left him the moment he saw Gary, Damian, and Leaf socializing amongst themselves. Damian and Leaf sat on the steps while Gary stood, towering over the two with his signature cocky grin. He suddenly felt like the odd one out. He clenched the pokéball tighter when Gary turned to see Ash.

"Finally out, Ashy-boy? Took you long enough," Gary said.

Leaf stood up right away, giving an interested glance Ash's way. She eyed the pokéball. "So what pokémon did you get?" she asked.

Ash almost didn't want to show them his partner. Gary wasn't threatening, but he didn't know Leaf or her motives, and Damian was such an odd person, only caring about the worth of a pokémon that Ash knew Izzy would strike the other rookie's fancy. Still, he couldn't hide his starter from the others.

Despite his reluctance to show them, he couldn't help the prideful grin that manifested on his face as he held out the pokéball. In a crimson beam of light, Izzy emerged. She let out an open mouth growl. With her failure of an intimidation trick, she tilted her head when she spotted the others. She looked left and right, before tilting her head backward to spot Ash. That silly smile met Ash's suddenly worried expression as she launched onto Ash. Her claws dug into his shirt and she offered an unwanted sloppy kiss.

"H-hey, Izzy. Calm down!"

Gary laughed. "Don't even have control over that thing yet? Some trainer you are."

Izzy stopped her adorable assault, eyes flashing dangerously as she turned back toward the other trainers. Her chest rumbled, her growl no longer friendly. She lifted her lips into an ugly snarl. The strangest of things was, Izzy pulled her tongue back into her mouth.

She leapt from Ash's arms and ran in her zigzag pattern. Gary took only a single step back, obviously surprised at the pokémon's boldness, before he sent out Squirtle.

"Tackle it."

Squirtle charged at the zigzagoon before he even fully materialized, still a blue beam of light, far too slow to ever hope to make quick work of Izzy. The black and white pokémon zigzagged around Squirtle and launched onto its shelled back, knocking it off balance. Squirtle squeaked when he hit the concrete ground.

Ash blinked, amazed by Izzy's ability to already outsmart Squirtle. He grinned. "It's a battle then, I guess. All right, Izzy, use headbutt!"

Izzy rumbled as she shot forward in a full-out sprint and smashed her head into the still-knocked over Squirtle's side, flipping the water-type onto his back, ensuring it had no chance to retaliate. Before Ash could call out another attack to finish Squirtle off, Izzy jumped on Squirtle, her claws digging into its underbelly. With her most fearsome roar, she latched her fangs into its tough but not tough enough skin.

Squirtle cried out as he struggled underneath Izzy. Even when Gary cried out for Squirtle to use withdraw to cease the assault, his words fell to deaf ears.

Izzy didn't let go, slobber pooling at her fangs as she got a firmer hold on Squirtle's face, the closest spot to his throat. Squirtle kicked and pushed at Izzy, trying to get her away from him.

"Izzy, stop!" Ash called as he lifted her pokéball to recall her.

Instead of letting Ash pull her in, she jumped off Squirtle, freeing him of her hold. She hissed.

Gary ran to Squirtle, helping his partner sit up. The water-type had visible but not overly deep wounds in his face, his underbelly only scratched on the surface. Gary sighed, recalling Squirtle before standing up. After a moment, he let his arrogance show again. "Damn, Ashy-boy. That thing of yours knows how to pick a weak spot, but it's not strong enough to seriously hurt Squirtle."

Ash's breath was deep and he came to terms with just how aggressive Izzy was. Gary was right. Izzy picked Squirtle's weakest points easily. It's speed, the softer underbelly when compared to the rest of the shell, and then attempting to go for the throat, a common place to target for an easy and effective kill. If Ash hadn't heard of so many of the charmander line killing their trainers, he would've assumed Izzy was already twice as aggressive as charizard. One thing was clear. Izzy was not meant to be a starter pokémon. A vicious creature, but surprisingly obedient. That made sense though. Professor Oak wouldn't just give Ash a pokémon that wouldn't listen to him.

Leaf scoffed. "Judging by those sounds Squirtle made, I'd say Izzy could've done a lot more than hurt Squirtle."

Izzy made a tiny sound, holding her head high at the sound of praise, her tongue lolling out. Ash also smiled despite what he'd just witnessed. People were already using Izzy's name.

"Please. It left a few marks. It just hurt was Squirtle's pride," Gary said. He turned to Ash. "So what it that thing?"

"It looks like a zigzagoon," Damian said from his spot. "But it also doesn't. Is it's fur dyed?"

Ash shook his head and knelt beside Izzy and began petting her. "No. She's just a different form of zigzagoon. From Galar." Izzy smiled and jumped into Ash's arms and, as expected, licked him across the face.

Leaf giggled at the sight. "She's awfully affectionate toward you."

"Yeah, maybe a little too much," Gary teased. "A little weird since she fought so viciously."

Izzy curled herself into the crook of Ash's neck, practically vibrating as the praise washed over her. At that, Ash couldn't help but laugh as well.

"Your Squirtle was pretty good, too, Gary," Ash said. Sure, Squirtle hadn't managed much against Izzy, but it was still relatively quick for its species. Though he hadn't managed to dodge any attacks of dish out any of his own effectively, that hardly meant Squirtle was weak. If anything, his ability to stay conscious during such a brutal assault was a statement of his durability.

Izzy's eyes flashed dangerously again. She nipped his ear. Not hard enough to hurt him, but enough to warn him against saying such a thing again.

"Ow! Izzy, stop that!" Ash snapped. He held her out with extended arms. His dark eyes met Izzy's bright pink ones in a stare-off. Trainer versus trainee, both trying to prove they were the former. It took only a few moments before Izzy turned away with a whiny huff as if she were defiant. Ash sighed. "You're too much."

"I'll say." Gary turned away and offered a halfhearted wave. "Smell ya later, rookies." As he walked away, he only laughed when Leaf angrily commented that Gary was just as much a rookie as the rest of them.

"That ego will get him crushed again," Leaf said, glaring at the disappearing boy.

"Nah. It'll do him some good," Ash opposed. "It always has."

Leaf turned to him. "I hardly see the good in an inflamed ego with nothing to back it up. Anyway, I'll be waiting when you two decide to follow." And just as fast as Gary left them, Leaf did the same.

Ash couldn't help but scoff at how hypocritical Leaf was. And to assume either Ash or Damian would follow after her was even worse. Ash had no real intentions of traveling with anyone long-term since he wanted to go at his own pace and whether that would fit anyone else's wasn't likely. Especially since Izzy was as powerful as she was but as wild as could be. A lot of push and pull would go into the first several weeks of training.

"So how was Gary's talk with his dad?" Ash asked.

Damian stood and shrugged. "It was over before I walked out."

Ash frowned.

"He seemed happy enough, though," Ash's friend added. "I'm heading to meet with Leaf."

That was a slap across the face. Sure, Ash wasn't expecting Damian to travel with him, and truthfully, Ash didn't want to, but for Damian to choose the rookie chick over him was insulting. "Why?" Ash couldn't help but question.

"She and I have very similar goals," Damian said. He held up the pokéball to examine it. "And an offer worth considering."

Ash inwardly winced. "What's so wrong with keeping Charmander? I know it doesn't sound right, since I gave him to you, but charizard is a powerful pokémon worth training if you want to be the strongest."

Damian tightened his grip on the ball before sizing it down and pocketing it. "Being my strongest isn't about having the most powerful pokémon to back me up." When he moved to walk away, Ash quickly followed.

"Hey! I have an idea."

"No, I'm not traveling with you."

"That's not—"

"It is."

"Will you let me speak?" Ash snapped. Izzy offered emphasis with her own sound — something close to a bark and grunt. When Damian didn't comment, Ash continued: "I thought maybe we should battle. Izzy against Charmander, so you can see the real potential in him." Ash didn't want to encourage Damian to use Charmander as nothing but a tool, but maybe the boy would bond with the fire-type if he got to know its true power. with the powerful move dragon rush, there was no denying his power even in its base form.

Izzy's eyes lit up upon hearing Ash request another battle so soon. Her tail shook with the rest of her body as she hopped from Ash's arms to Damian's shoulder.

Damian's cool, calm demeanor shattered in that instant as he let out a scream. He twisted around and yanked the pest off his shoulder. It was his saving grace that she hadn't latched her claws into him, otherwise there would be a large chunk of flesh torn off. His hard scowl and glaring eyes met the glinting face of the zigzagoon. Her neon eyes pierced into his, her tongue hanging out of her smiling mouth. She swung her back limbs excitedly as she awaited what she knew would surely be another battle. He stared at it for a moment before shoving her back into Ash's arms. "Learn to control that thing. She'll be euthanized otherwise."

The thought made Ash want to punch Damian.

"She just wanted another battle."

"Then you should get out of Pallet Town. You won't find one here."

* * *

Delia loved Izzy.

Judging by the way Izzy nuzzled into Delia, it was safe to say she returned that love.

"She's precious, Ash!" his mom gushed as Izzy twisted around in her hold attempting to capture a strand of Delia's hair that escaped at every turn. "And you nicknamed her perfectly! I'm surprised you gave her a nickname at all."

Ash lifted a brow. "Well I wasn't planning on it, but since she wanted one, I figured why not?"

His mother hummed in consideration. "I figured. You never struck me as someone willing to nickname you pokémon."

He frowned. Was he predictable? He never thought so, but then again, this was his mother figuring him out. His mom always did have a keen eye for the smallest details in folks, and of course she'd know more about Ash than the boy would've assumed.

"Now, I think it's time for breakfast," Delia said.

Izzy's tail waggled so violently her entire body went with the movement. She jumped out of Delia's arms and pounced on the chairs. Before she could reach the piles of food on the table, Ash caught her. She growled and twisted around in his hold. "You can't eat that, Izzy!" Ash said. She huffed defiantly. After a calm moment, she pounced and got a mouthful of bacon from Ash's plate.

"Hey!" _The PokéDex hadn't mentioned a pseudo-fake out_, Ash humorlessly thought.

Delia laughed at the display and pet Izzy as the zigzagoon chowed down on the fattening meat. "It's tasty, hmm?" Izzy rumbled in the affirmative. "As good as it might be, I have something special for you," Delia said.

Izzy nearly flipped back with how fast she lifted her head to meet the kind lady's eyes. Taking the final strip of bacon down, she barked. She followed Delia to the fridge, body shaking the entire way until Delia presented her with a precious gift. An egg. It wasn't a familiar sight but if Izzy had to judge by the most common birds in the area, she'd say it was either a pidgey or spearow egg.

Where she came from, her favorite eggs came from pidove nests, though the blind-as-zubat woobats were the easiest to steal from; the dark typing helped fully negate the psychic bats' ability to use ultrasonic waves to find her.

She licked her daggers for teeth clean of grease before taking the cold egg into her mouth. She'd never been one to act gentle when it came to food, but Delia was so kind as to gift her with something so precious; she couldn't be too bad of a human. Better than that Professor Oak at least, who wanted her to eat kibble. Izzy nearly gagged at the thought.

Was she, a wild-caught pokémon, really expected to eat flavorless, colorless, chalky-textured pellets? She belonged to a trainer now, but that didn't mean she would act like a perfectly tame, all-loyal growlithe that would eat anything her trainer offered her. Izzy still craved the meat and eggs that she sought in the wild.

With one sharp slice of the shell, the gooey egg poured into her mouth, the cool yolk running down her throat and she ground the shell down to fine dust. With one final gulp, it disappeared down her gullet. She licked her lips to capture the traces of sliminess before they trailed down her chin. She barked happily and stared up at Delia with bright eyes.

Delia smiled back down at Izzy and said: "I'll give you another under one condition."

Izzy grumbled. It was a fair enough offer. No one ever gifted something of such value without wanting something in return.

"I need you to protect my baby boy, okay?" Delia said.

"Mom, I don't need any protection!" Ash whined. Izzy looked over at her trainer, then back at Delia, giving the kind egg-giver a sharp nod. Ash groaned at the little agreement.

Izzy knew Ash would need all the protection possible if the wild areas of Kanto were even half as harsh as those in Galar.

* * *

The road out of Pallet Town and to route one was a short, straightforward one, taking no less than ten minutes to reach the end of. Ash created a record when Izzy challenged him to a race. He laughed the entirety of the three minutes he tried keeping up with Izzy, but she was way too fast despite her zigzagging pattern. Ash half expected it to slow her down, but it honestly seemed that running straight hindered he speed most. Ash couldn't spot any time in the far future that Izzy's zigzag running would become an issue, so he wasn't going to address running straight, at least not anytime soon.

Once they were at the end of the road, Izzy ran a circle around Ash before jumping into his arm and wiping her slobbery tongue over his face. His expression soured. "Gross! You ate raw eggs earlier!" _Salmonella_, he dreaded as he wiped the nasty slime away.

Izzy smiled and wagged her tail wildly.

Her fluffy, white ear twitched and she looked over Ash's shoulder. She crawled over her trainer and pounced off to meet the approaching trainers. When Ash turned to see Damian and Leaf, his mood grew foul.

Leaf was off. She appeared to care about Bulbasaur, but Ash saw there was more care for something else than the actual pokémon itself. Maybe it was power. That would explain why she'd already offered Damian a trade for Charmander. With a venusaur and charizard on her team, there would be so few counters as they covered each other's weaknesses quite well.

Izzy charged at Damian and pawed at his foot, awaiting affection. Her sweet, bright eyes met the boy's harsh ones. Damian stepped over her and kept walking. Izzy collapsed dramatically, offering an annoyed growl.

Leaf giggled and knelt to pet Izzy, who rumbled an appreciative growl as she relished the attention. It may not have been an egg offering, but Izzy'd take what she could get. It took only a couple seconds for her to get her fill of stranger affection. She rolled onto her feet and bolted back at Ash, charging into his surprised hold.

Ash winced as Izzy wiped her tongue along his chin.

"She's adorable," Leaf said, her words nearing a squeal.

Despite the situation, Ash grinned and scratched his partner's ear. "Yup. She sure is." Izzy leaned into his hand with a twitchy ear. "So you two are traveling together?" Ash asked, turning to face Leaf and Damian.

"For a little while." Leaf swiped a strand of hair from her face. "I'll be taking on the gym leaders."

When Damian didn't further explain, Ash nodded. Damian had no desire to take on the different gyms of Kanto or entering the league. It was hard to say what Damian wanted to do. He wanted powerful pokémon, but only to trade them away. For what pokémon, Ash couldn't quite pin down. No way would Damian want to be a pokémon breeder or take part in contests; neither fit Damian's cool, calm demeanor in the least.

"Why don't we all travel together?" Leaf offered.

Damian flinched. "You have got to be kidding me."

"C'mon!" Leaf said, voice entering the level of an annoying little kid's. "At least until we get to Pewter City. You know what they say; safety in number, yadda yadda."

Damian didn't look convinced but shrugged.

"Then it's settled!" Leaf cheered. "You're coming with us, Ash!"

"Heh?" When had he agreed to this? "Don't I have say in this?"

"You can say whatever you want. I won't listen, though."

Ash was beginning to regret not bolting out of Pallet Town the moment he could. He could already be partway through route one by now, had he just wolfed down his breakfast at Izzy-pace. Although he wasn't opposed to traveling with maybe one person, the idea of having to deal with the person he was on shaky ground with and a stranger was unsettling. If Damian's indifferent attitude was anything to go by, however, there was no making out now.

* * *

Ash wondered how he'd train Izzy. After all, he knew little about zigzagoon to begin with, much less the Galarian variant. However, he had a good idea of how her abilities could be used in battle. Speed and power were the most important skills Ash could see in her thus far.

Her display when up against Squirtle showed that she already had a decent grasp of both aspects rather well, but there was always room to improve.

Speed, of course, came before power. Izzy already outsped Squirtle, Bulbasaur, and Charmander, but Ash knew her current speed likely wouldn't compare to the speed of Brock's pokémon. It was a saddening thought, considering rock-types were notorious for being painfully slow in battle. That wasn't the case for every rock-type, but the likelihood of Brock using one of his speedier rock-types on a rookie trainer was slim to none. And yet it was still likely that Izzy wouldn't compare. Not without quick attack, which Ash knew was almost universally learned by speedier pokémon. That would eventually turn into extreme speed, the most powerful speed techniques. Of course, since Ash intended Izzy to gather speed before increasing her power, that move was likely months from development, if not longer.

As Leaf and Damian worked on building a fire, using the foliage of Bulbasaur and the flames of Charmander, Ash considered the best way to improve Izzy's speed promptly.

Quick sessions of sprints were the obvious answer, and weights would eventually come in handy, but not anytime soon. Weights were a great thing to apply when training, but for young pokémon, it could ruin their muscles and thus were only advised to use after evolution, where speed often became an issue with the pokémon's more bulky body.

Izzy swatted as Charmander's lit tail, narrowly avoiding the flame. Charmander looked back at Izzy with a glare in his gaze. He squeaked out a growl; his sad attempt at a roar. Izzy paused at the cute attempt of intimidation before rolling over onto her back and rumbling out a laughing growl.

Charmander's tail lit higher and hotter.

Sprout, Leaf's bulbasaur snickered as well, waving a clumsy vine around to turn Izzy right side up.

Leaf smiled. "Say, Ash."

Ash lifted his gaze to meet Leaf's, still mostly lost in thought at so how he'd go about training.

"How's about we have a quick battle before the sun sets?" she offered.

At that, Ash grimaced. "I think Izzy has Sprout beat."

"Then it'll be a good challenge for Sprout."

Ash couldn't deny that much. "Alright. Izzy, it's time for another battle."

Izzy ceased her laughing, as did Sprout with his vine tickling. They both ran up to their respective trainers and took stance, Izzy's silky soft fur standing on end as she braced herself for her first bolt forward. Sprout took his stance as well, much like Izzy's but instead of preparing to charge, Sprout awaited the charge.

From the side of the makeshift battlefield, Damian leaned against a tree with his arms crossed as he watched the envious glint in Charmander's eyes. The fire-type wanted to battle, too, but it wasn't his time.

"Let's kick things off with vine whip, Sprout!" Leaf called.

Sprout pulled his vines from underneath his bulb and flung them out as Izzy, who watched with narrowed eyes. "Wait for it, and then bite them!" Ash instructed. Izzy growled in acknowledgment. The vines came fast, but not fast enough to confuse Izzy as to what she was snapping for. Her teeth glowed a blinding white and she bound into the air, catching both vines in her jaw at once. The taste of sap slipped down her throat as Sprout bled from the sheer force applied.

"Throw it!"

Sprout did his best to whip Izzy around before slamming the dark-type into the ground. Izzy landed in a cloud of dust and whimpered at the pain of the belly flop. Being slammed down did little to loosen her iron grip. More sap dripped onto the fur around her mouth as she ground her fangs against each other.

Izzy jerked her head to the side, tugging the vines. Sprout winced as his short vines reached their end. He was still too young and too inexperienced to use his foliage to lengthen his vines.

"Pull in your vines as you go for a tackle!" Leaf suggested, unsure of what else she could do. Izzy was too far to launch a sludge attack or leech seed, so they needed to close the distance.

Sprout grunted, scraping one foot on the ground as he prepared to charge. Izzy and Ash wore matching smirks, the former's more menacing than the latter. "Meet it with a headbutt!" Ash ordered. Before Leaf could call off her attempt at getting an advantage, Sprout charged at Izzy, reeling in his vines as the two bolted at one another, one with a full-body tackle and the other with a power-precise headbutt.

They clashed in the blink of an eye, a burst of white crashing energy forming between the two.

Sprout shot back with a cry as Izzy stumbled as the blunt force of her head smashing into the grass-type sent her into a daze. She grimaced as she pawed at her forehead in an attempt to soothe the pain. When she looked up, she growled upon seeing Sprout pulling himself back onto shaky feet. The blasted bulbasaur didn't seem to learn his lesson the first time. She released tremoring shock waves into the air from her open mouth that shot right through Sprout.

"Great!" Ash praised, making Izzy's ear twitch. "Now tackle it repeatedly, as fast as you can!"

That much Izzy could do. She shot forward and bashed herself in Sprout, this attack a lot less painful on her part thanks to it not being so concentrated.

"Slap it away with vine whip," Leaf called in desperation.

The spiked ends of Sprout's vines twitched out of their natural holding place, but they were far too damaged to extend any further. As Sprout stood there, useless to attack, Izzy charged and slammed into him in rapid succession. Putting in a bit of claw and teeth action as well, for her own amusement, until she knew the grass/poison-type was out of it. The very moment Izzy ceased her attacks, Sprout collapsed into a heap of himself, a yellow sap dripping from its mouth and bulb.

Leaf gasped. "Sprout!" She ran over to her fallen friend and lifted him into her lap. "I'm so sorry you had to go through that... I'll be more mindful of your limits next time."

As Leaf tended to Sprout's injuries with some potions and a salve, Izzy ran up to Ash, only daring to stumble once.

Ash knelt down and pet Izzy behind the ear. "You did great. Good girl."

Izzy's tail swung like a windmill in a storm. Praise was much appreciated. She took the berries Ash offered her with a grunt. Though fruits were hardly her favorite, they were better than the nasty food the professor gave her. The berries also seemed to help her recover faster.

"That was a good battle," Ash said to Leaf.

She offered a bitter smile. "You say that 'cause you won."

"I say it because it's true," Ash corrected. "I have a good idea on how I'm going to train Izzy now."

"By tearing opponents to pieces?"

"Don't be such a sore loser," Damian snapped. "It's not a good look. Not even Gary was a sore loser."

"Like you wouldn't have the same reaction."

"That's why I won't be battling until my team is up to standards."

Charmander jumped up from his spot, tail tip in the campfire, and ran over to Damian. He mumbled his words, claiming to be strong enough to fight and flexing his nubby arms to show his words were the truth. Damian looked at him for a moment before sighing. Thinking he got to his trainer, Charmander grinned, only for Damian to say: "Go play with the other two."

Charmander's eyes grew watery as his smile fell.

"Don't look so sad," Damian snapped. "It's not a good look."

"Come here, Charmander," Leaf called. "I can teach you a few tricks about battling."

Charmander glanced and scoffed. If the girl couldn't even win with Sprout, her pokémon, how did she expect to be worthy of training him, a charmander? Charmander were far superior to grass-types thanks to the type advantage. He ran over to a tree across the clearing. His trainer and friends decided to bank just off the main trail through route one, finding an ample-sized clearing protected from possible rain, so it was starting to get dark than it would normally be at such an hour. His claws sparked as he swiped repeatedly at the tree trunk with a basic scratch attack. Metal claw was a necessary attack for any charmander since they'd need a good way to counter rock-types, a natural enemy to the far superior fire-types.

Swipe after swipe, Charmander's claws seemed to lessen in sharpness, which wasn't a good thing. He stopped for a moment, flexing his fingers to test the muscles. No improvement. He growled.

Izzy ran over to Charmander and tilted her head. He answered with a squeak, unsure of what the dark-type wanted. It didn't take a genius to know that dark-type were predators, in captivity or otherwise. Izzy held up her paw, sharp claws gliding against each other as she wiggled her paw.

Charmander gasped. He made a sound — something close to a croak — of question.

Izzy scraped her claws against the same tree trunk, making Charmander gape in awe when the scratches dug twice as deep into the tree compared to his own. She demonstrated again, showing she used the base of her claw and then let the surface sharpen her claw to a point. Only then did she use the tip of her claws to slice cleanly, harshly, in a way that would no doubt bring blood to the unfortunate soul subjected to such attacks.

* * *

Night was the best time for hunting. It ensured tired parent birds and full nests of either eggs or chicks; both were quite tasty. Fighting-types were also always asleep at such a time since they were so closely related to the human species, Izzy noticed.

She'd since left the main clearing, where her trainer and the other two were sleeping. Sprout was also sleeping off his injuries, and Charmander had his tail stuck in the smoldering remains of the campfire. She assumed the fire-type would be alert enough to fend off any danger. From what she'd observed, the most dangerous thing in this part of the forest was a few weedle that even Sprout could fend off if he weren't lazing around with her recovery.

Izzy's nose twitched as she caught whiff of something familiar. Sap.

It smelled similar to Sprout's sap, and Izzy's mouth watered. Sprout's sap was sweet and bitter all at once, which was just how Izzy liked her greens. Despite the poison typing, since Sprout was so young, he'd yet to develop worthy toxic reserves. The bulbasaur would have to spend several weeks at least to fully bake in the sun before its toxins grew potent.

Izzy followed the scent, nose to the ground and paws silently brushing against the dewy grass under her. Kanto wasn't like Galar in the least. The nights in Galar always had a chill to them, but Kanto was a lot more humid and warm. Now that she was thinking about it, that could be a bad thing. Birds were less likely to be cozied in their nests. Regardless, that wasn't Izzy's prey item for the night. Sure, she'd had her share of Ash's food, but that hardly offered the enrichment that hunting did. Her steps grew faster as she neared a particular bush that she knew the source of her late-night snack came from.

Her ear twitched as she sounded it out. It was a light humming, something close to Ash's almost-snores. Asleep. Perfect.

Izzy reared back for a moment before pouncing into the bush, jaws clamping down on vines hardly comparable to Sprout's. In taste or size. They were spindly, little vines that likely couldn't fling a caterpie away, and were foul enough to make Izzy choke back dry heave. It was too late, though. Izzy always pulled it out of its sleeping spot and got a mouth full of what she could only think to be acid.

The moment she landed, she spat the nasty grass-type out of her mouth and let the poison drain from her mouth through a thick trail of foaming saliva. She glared at the pokémon, nearly jumping back.

The pokémon's body was nothing but a thin twig with even smaller roots for feet and flat, three-sectioned leaves for arms. Its head was the oddest thing, though. It was shaped like a bell and colored yellow, but its lips were thick — the thickest part of the creature — and pink. Its eyes were pinpricks and it appeared to lack any soul if its gaze was anything to go by. Now that Izzy was face-to-face with the thing, she realized that: yeah — of course this thing would taste sickening. Only the prey items that she killed without sympathy were the foulest.

The pokémon wiggled its twig of a body as if to test if it was still intact.

Izzy watched it curiously. Was it not going to attack her back? Usually after a failed hunt, Izzy would run, but this thing, whatever it was, was so confused that it confused even Izzy. Confusion was contagious, she supposed.

She barked at the failed meal.

It looked at her with its soulless gaze. Izzy shivered, wondering if she should just force it down so the world could have one less creep. Then she thought: Sprout could use some toxins to help develop his own. She'd encountered oddish who could only get the hang of their poison typing after being exposed to many poison-type attacks.

Izzy had helped Charmander so why not help her other friend? She supposed Sprout was a friend, even if she could kick his ass to Galar and back.

She grabbed the creature's leaf, finding it tasted a lot less like the acid the thing's twig-like features gave off. She watched her fangs, making sure to just lock her lips on its leaf. It walked clumsily, spindly root legs taking massive steps like a newly-hatched scorbunny would. It brought back fond memories.

Izzy smiled as she guided the stupid creature back to camp.

With a questioning growl, Izzy received a burbling response, telling her the thing was a bellsprout. Must not have been native to Galar, 'cause she'd never heard of them.

They made it back to the campsite quickly. Charmander watched with sleepy, confused eyes as Izzy dragged Bellsprout over to Sprout. Charmander snickered inwardly upon seeing the similarity in Sprout and Bellsprout's names. He stretched and yawned, curling himself into a ball as his tail kept the embers of the fire going.

Sprout opened one eye and grunted upon seeing Izzy dragging along a poor bellsprout that was too ignorant to stand up for itself. As a fellow grass/poison-type, Sprout couldn't help but sympathize.

Bellsprout stopped moving when Izzy did and looked over at said dark-type with a tilt to its bell-shaped head. Izzy rumbled her words, and Bellsprout simply stood there for a moment before shaking his unsettling body. Izzy pounced backward when a cloud of purple powder left the thing's body.

Despite the foul-smelling powder, Izzy couldn't help but stare in wonder. Bellsprout was about to conjure toxic powders from its every pore. Most grass/poison-type were limited to where they could spit their toxins from. For example, bulbasaur could only produce it from their bulbs, while oddish shook it solely from their leaves.

Sprout closed his eye and sighed as the poison powder rested on his bulb and skin. It soaked up fast and seemed to soothe the aches previously made by Izzy. With one last sigh, he dozed off into a restful, dreamless slumber.

Izzy nodded to herself for a job well done. Despite her late-night hunt was hardly worthy of being called such, she'd managed to help Sprout at least start developing his poison reserves. It wouldn't be long until he learned poison powder and although it was among the weakest poison-inducing techniques, it was the gateway to the likes of toxic and the natural secretion of toxins.

Izzy walked over to where Ash was laying and curled up in the crook of his neck, snuggling her nose into his hair. Her trainer, her human. She was out like a light before she could see Bellsprout staring at the odd display of companionship.

* * *

The bridge of Ash's nose wrinkled as the smell of an over abundant flower garden wafted over him. He cracked his eyes open, wincing as the creeping sunlight through the tree blinded him. It must've been later in the morning. He rubbed his eyes, rousing Izzy from her snooze. There was a trail of drying saliva on Ash's shoulder, but he paid it no mind as he did a double-take.

Izzy was curled up to one side of his neck, and a bellsprout was on the other side. Ash nearly shouted but swallowed down the urge. This was bad.

Bellsprout weren't known to be aggressive or anything like that; that would come after evolution, but they still had highly corrosive fluids they could spit up. Not as bad as a victreebel, which dissolved human bone in a matter of sixty minutes, but that hardly made it any more pleasant of an experience.

"Izzy," he mumbled, hoping the buzzing Bellsprout didn't wake. She looked up at him with a wide yawn. "Can you get that?" He jerked his head at Bellsprout.

Izzy blinked several times before snickering. Of course the confused Bellsprout would continue following her, even her behaviors. She nudged it with her nose, and its pinprick eyes snapped open. They stared off for a few seconds before Bellsprout burbled its good mornings.

Bellsprout then looked at Ash, who wore a look of horror. It was mere inches from his face. It could easily spit its acids out and consume him piece by piece. Granted, Ash was probably too big for Bellsprout, but bellsprout were known for taking more than they could reasonably eat so that was hardly a concern for them.

Instead of spilling its liquids, however, Bellsprout closed its eyes in an attempt to smile, but it held no control over its lips beyond the closing of them when eating.

It picked itself up on its twig body and began to stumble around, burbling at Sprout, shaking off more poison powder for the grass-type to better develop its poison abilities.

Ash watched in utter confusion as he sat up, Izzy moving to sit on his lap as she gazed at the strange one as well. Izzy tilted her head and considered. Bellsprout was nothing impressive, but he was impressionable and had a firm grasp on his poison techniques. He also seemed to have no effect from Izzy chomping down on him either. He may not be a speedy attacker like Izzy, but he could easily become a hardy team member that could take hits Izzy couldn't and assist with poisoning dangerous foe than needed to take down a notch.

Izzy grinned and lolled her tongue out the side of her mouth. She jumped off Ash and quickly dug through her trainer's bag.

"Hey, Izzy!" Ash snapped. "I'll feed you. Just wait a minute."

Izzy grunted as she pulled out an empty pokéball. It was already primed and covered in her slobber. She took care to not scratch it with her teeth. She let out a muffled bark to get Bellsprout's attention. He turned around, his head toppling over before he regained balance.

"Izzy, what are you—?!" It was a stupid question to ask, because it was clear to see exactly what Izzy was doing.

His words got caught off when Izzy threw the pokéball and hit Bellsprout atop the head with it. In a stream of crimson, Bellsprout entered the pokéball.

Ash held his breath as the ball shook once.

Twice.

A third time...

_Click._

Ash blinked. His PokéDex went off: _"You have caught a new pokémon."_

Could it even be considered Ash who caught Bellsprout? He hadn't considered capturing it. He just wanted Izzy to do away with it so it didn't dissolve any of his body. "Bring it here, Izzy," he told. Izzy scooped the ball in her mouth and bolted it over to Ash, who took the nasty-feeling ball. Wiping it off, he scanned it with his PokéDex.

_"Bellsprout, the Flower Pokémon. Bellsprout's thin and flexible body lets it bend and sway to avoid any attack, however strong it is. From its mouth, this pokémon spits a corrosive fluid that melts even iron."_

Ash stared in awe. If what it said was true, then even steel-types wouldn't be an issue for Bellsprout. He quickly clicked for more information. It said:

_"This bellsprout is male and has the ability chlorophyll, which doubles his speed when in harsh sunlight. He knows the moves: vine whip, wrap, poison powder, growth, and sleep powder."_

Bellsprout would no doubt come in handy. Sleep powder was a great move when it landed, rendering the opponent practically useless. Combined with poison powder, and Bellsprout would have fully countered his opponent's ability to battle. It would be a little while before it could spit its acids at opponents to effectively melt them. The only reason it would work with humans was because humans were protected by just skin. Pokémon had armour, plated bodies, and were overall just better at surviving. It's different if Bellsprout swallowed it, though, since its prey couldn't escape from within.

Bellsprout needed to learn how to evolve his poisons and learn acid so he could melt even steel-types to the ground.

Ash smiled. Although his first capture was by no means his own, he couldn't help but be grateful Izzy saw enough potential in Bellsprout to capture it herself. He was no bulbasaur, but Ash had a feeling he could make Bellsprout work even better than he even could a bulbasaur.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you, everyone for the favorites, follows and especially the reviews! I know I said I'd update after Sword & Shield came out, but I couldn't help but write more. It took a lot of time to write this, though, so I hope its up to standard.**

**I'd like some tips on the battles since I'm out of practice with action scenes. Maybe it's just because the starting battles are quite slow to begin with, but I don't want that to transfer into upcoming battles. Especially not the gym battles.**

**Also, I don't own Pokémon. That should be obvious.**


	3. Viridian Battle Lodge

**Obstruct**

* * *

_3._

_Viridian Battle Lodge_

* * *

"You caught a pokémon while we were asleep?!" Leaf shrieked.

"That's impossible," Damian said. "We would've woke from the sounds of battle."

"Actually, Izzy threw the ball at Bellsprout..." Ash said, face heating up as he realized how unimpressive his first major accomplishment was. It wasn't even really his. First he captured a bellsprout of all things, then it wasn't even him who captured it; it was Izzy. Ash let Bellsprout out in a burst of light. It blinked several times before looking up at Ash with a tilt to his head. He burbled at his trainer.

Damian snickered. "Well, uh.. that's something." He turned away and started rolling up his sleeping bag. "It's getting close to noon. We should get some distance before we have to make camp again." Just in case someone was planning to ambush them in the middle of the night. It was always wisest to travel at least a mile a day and not stay in one location for too long unless you had a skilled team for backup. Their pokémon combined might be able to fight off other pokémon but when it came to human predators, that was another thing entirely.

"Have you named him yet?" Leaf asked as she poked the bell head.

Izzy stood up from her spot and barked, growling at the thought of another pokémon of Ash's being so special as to receive a name like hers.

"I don't think Bellsprout needs much to have a name to stand out," Ash said, ignoring his companion's anger. "He's memorable enough." He rubbed the spot Leaf and poked at, making Bellsprout smile as best he could, waving his leaflets for arms in the air. Ash smiled.

They moved out quickly, packing their belongings and finding their way back onto the main road. Despite Damian and Leaf wanting to take it easy as they traveled, Ash had other plans. He needed to build Izzy, and now Bellsprout's skills. Bellsprout would have a great advantage over Brock, but he was still just a bellsprout. A bellsprout with no offensive grass-type moves besides vine whip. A close-range move no matter what way you looked at it. Getting close to a rock-type was asking to get squashed. Bellsprout may have a flexible body, but that was hardly useful when flattened by a massive boulder.

Razor leaf was the best option as far as Ash could see, though that was quite an advanced move for a bellsprout. Bellsprout mostly used their root legs to fight with the likes of wrap and vine whip. Though, there was one move that Ash recalled. Giga drain. It was a powerful draining move that involved the pokémon using tendrils of energy to sap their opponent's energy. Hurting the opponent heals the user. It fit the victreebel-style of combat to a 'T'.

The main issue in that was teaching Bellsprout to drain life energy. If he'd already known absorb, mega drain, or even ingrain, that would've made things easier as he could use those moves repeatedly to eventually evolve the move into giga drain. Ash would have to start from the basics, though.

That was why Bellsprout was currently situated on Sprout's bulb, trying to use its spindling root appendages to take the other grass-type's fluids. In return for letting Bellsprout suck out the bulbasaur's energy, Bellsprout was releasing his poison powder like he did last night. When Sprout sneezed, Leaf looked at him, worried.

"Are you sure it won't hurt him?" she asked for what felt like the thousandth time in the last hour they'd been traveling.

Damian groaned. "Bulbasaur's a poison-type. It's not like he can get sick from it unless it's from the likes of muk and weezing."

That much was true. Muk and weezing in Kanto took in the nasty toxins all around them, turning them into energy and then dispelling them as brutal toxins that could corrode even the most resilient venusaur. It wouldn't poison them, per se, but it would be highly detrimental to the health of their foliage, which could then end their lives most painfully if left untreated.

Leaf still appeared unsure but didn't bring up the issue again. However, once she noticed the sun was quite high in the sky, she realized it was high noon. "We should stop for lunch."

Ash nodded. "That'd be a good idea. I could also get some training done, too." It would be his first official training session. He'd spent the first day getting used to trainer-hood, and now he was finally going to actually progress, if only a little.

"Your pokémon have to eat, too, you know," Damian pointed out.

"I know, and they will. Izzy will go hunting." Izzy jumped into the air, tail whirling in circles as she was finally allowed to go hunting. After her failure of an attempt last night, she was quite hungry. "And Bellsprout only has to sit in the sun to get all the nutrients he needs." Of course, pokémon food brought a bit more balance to the diet and allowed him to take those vitamins in a lot faster, but the best way to get more of those in his diet was also to hunt, much like Izzy. Ash got lucky with having two predatory pokémon. That meant he wouldn't have to spend half as much money on their food. Sure, he'd offer them food should their hunts be unsuccessful, but considering Izzy was already had such good instincts and how Bellsprout was previously wild, the likelihood of them failing in such an abundantly stocked forest was slim to none.

Bellsprout gurgled the fluids it drained from Sprout upon hearing his name.

Leaf made a face. "Why make her kill another pokémon when you can give her pokémon food."

Izzy faked a gag.

"_That's_ why," Ash said.

"B-But she'll be killing innocent pokémon who can't even defend themselves! I mean, just look at Bellsprout — if he gets dragged around by Izzy, you think something below him in the food chain will have any chance again a zigzagoon?" Leaf questioned.

"It's a growlithe-eat-growlithe world."

Leaf's face went green at the thought of a growlithe feasting upon another of its kind. "I'm not so hungry anymore..."

Ash turned away from Leaf and went down to Izzy's level. "I'll let you hunt as much as you want, as long as you don't play with your food or make the pokémon you get suffer."

Izzy tilted her head. What was the fun in playing with food? It's meant to eat, not played with! And of course she wouldn't make it suffer. The killing was a quick hold to the throat and tearing at the stomach should the pokémon have a large enough body. She nodded understandingly.

"One more thing."

Izzy collapsed dramatically, making Ash grin.

"Don't worry. It's nothing too daunting. I just want you to employ training in your hunting. I want you to sniff out your prey and eventually learn odor sleuth, an ability comparable to an arcanine's scent of smell." Izzy's ears perked up at the thought. Arcanine never lost a single scent they'd smelled and could track people and pokémon for several miles. If she had that kind of sense of smell, she'd never lose her prey ever again. Ash continued explaining: "And once you're near the pokémon, I want you to charge it as fast as you can! This will help you develop quick attack a lot faster."

Izzy nodded, eager to start learning all these moves Ash spoke of.

Ash reached into his bag and pulled out one of his shirts. "Smell of this so you can get a good smell of me."

Izzy didn't know why Ash didn't just let her smell of him, but did as ordered, inhaling a smell more comparable to what she'd first smelled from Ash when they met. It had none of her in the mix. Disappointing, but she'd tolerate it for now. "Use that smell to find me later, okay? Don't go too far either," Ash warned.

She nodded before getting to go, zigzagging into the forest.

"You really have this all planned out, don't you?" Leaf said, eyes wide with awe despite the disgust she felt knowing that Ash's pokémon were killing others.

"Well, I didn't at first, but after I caught Bellsprout"— who did a little jig —"I realized I needed to start training as soon as possible. Hunting is a normal thing for Izzy, so why not apply some training to it as well?" Ash found it a given.

He turned to Bellsprout, who had stopped dancing once the conversation shifted focus from him to whatever else. He stared up at the sun, the warm glow of golden beam bathing his leaves wonderfully. A tiny huff of near-invisible poison powder left him with a sigh.

Ash walked over to his newest team member and first capture. If that counted. "Bellsprout, I want to see you use your moves," he said.

Bellsprout's eyes went twice as wide as they should be before they closed with a smile. He waved his leaf arms and wiggled what Ash assumed were hips. Ash smiled.

"As cool as those moves are, I wasn't talking about those."

Bellsprout stopped instantly and tilted his head. He burbled.

"Show me how you use growth," Ash said. "You know what that is, right?"

The flower pokémon nodded enthusiastically and inhales sharply. He became outlined in an almost neon green outline before looking up to the sun for more power. Then, almost magically, his root legs elongated by nearly half a foot and his leaf appendages expanded to the size of his head.

"Amazing," Ash said. "How long can you hold it?"

Bellsprout shrugged but turned to a tree. As fast as he'd grown his limbs, he shot a vine out from beneath his arm, smacking a piece of bark off the tree. Just when Ash thought that was the final display, Bellsprout shot out his elongated root leg to wrap around the same tree. He winced as he tried squeezing it to the point of making a ridge, but pulled his limbs back with no satisfaction in that regard. Still, he turned, awaiting approval.

"That... Those were impressive displays," Ash said honestly. He could understand why Bellsprout had survived so long. He likely didn't even come out when it wasn't sunny since his biggest benefit was growing his limbs. If Bellsprout perfected growth and could eventually enlarge his head, he would be able to down opponents. Quite literally down other pokémon down in his acids.

Bellsprout curled his oversized leaves and smiled.

"Now I'd like to see your poison powder and sleep powder."

Ash had but a second to jump back before a sparkling silver and musky purple powder spun in an almost cyclone way as Bellsprout wiggled. Despite the close call, Ash couldn't help but stare in wonder. Releasing sleep and poison powder simultaneously meant Bellsprout was more than halfway there to learning the popular technique effect spore. All that was missing was stun spore.

On top of all that, Bellsprout had such a fast execution time. Had Ash not jumped at the very moment his words left him, he would've suffered from the cyclone of toxins and a several hour-long nap. It was likely Bellsprout's chlorophyll ability. Ash would need to test Bellsprout on a less sunny day to see just how much of a boost the sun was.

"You can stop now."

Bellsprout's reaction time wasn't any less spectacular when ceasing his attacks. The powder settled on the ground.

"There's no doubt you'll be powerful in time," Ash started, chuckling as Bellsprout twirled around happily. "But, like Izzy, you need training to reach your highest potential."

Bellsprout paused for only a moment before nodding, arms shaking like, well, leaves. He could only imagine what training he'd get. Ash told Izzy to hunt, so maybe he'd need to hunt as well; Ash only kept him back to check out his moves. Hunting would be fun. Caterpie and weedle were nice and chewy going down and settled within his acids.

"Since you've progressed very little with Sprout, I want you to use the tree to learn giga drain," Ash said.

For the first time, Bellsprout lowered his head, leaves drooping and noticeably shrinking now. "What's wrong?" Ash asked.

Bellsprout shook his head and stumbled to the tree that he'd demonstrated vine whip and wrap on. Maybe his moves weren't as good as Izzy's. He thought they were good, and Ash's praise let him know they weren't too bad. So why pin him against a tree?

Neon green tendrils extended from the same spot he kept his whips hidden and he suctioned it on the tree. The energy of the tendrils was easy to manifest since it was similar to that which helped him better use growth. It was the actual sapping that was the issue. He knew how to absorb to nutrients of prey through his acids, so why did he have to learn giga drain? Sure, those acids were limited to his bell head, but they were a lot more effective than the move Ash was teaching him.

Still, Izzy trusted in Ash. If Izzy could trust in the human, Bellsprout had no choice but to also do so. Besides, the human was quite nice to snuggle up to at night. The human's warmth was a good substitute for the sun's warmth.

Bellsprout felt the heat of the sun intensify when he thought about Izzy. Izzy was cute and so unlike any pokémon he'd ever met. So few predators sought bellsprout to begin with, so to have someone that wasn't a fire-type attack him showed either courage or idiocy on their part. Izzy was no idiot, though. Just unfamiliar.

He gurgled as he considered a future with her. Sure, they weren't capable of bring life into the world, but they could always take it out. Besides, Bellsprout found young a hassle, so really it was a benefit on his part.

It took him only a single night of his head lying close to Izzy's for him to realize he had to stay close to her. She was so loving toward Ash, a human who couldn't even understand her words so surely that meant she could love Bellsprout just as much but in a very different way.

Bellsprout wasn't sure how long love took, however. He'd never loved or been loved. Even from the few bellsprout he met in his life, it never went further than a battle for strength in leaves and vines.

Now he didn't have to do that. With Ash as his trainer, those fights were pointless. Survival would be easier, if not guaranteed if he wasn't mistaken. It didn't make his instincts to show his power any less prominent. If anything, having Izzy there made it worse. He needed to impress her with his skills, yet he was standing at a tree, sapping its life force, feeling as though he were killing his kin.

He had to admit, though. The tree gave so much more energy than Sprout did. His body glowed as his toxic sap-filled veins expanded with the added health. He shifted slightly. His leaves and root legs had gone back to their normal size at this point, so absorbing so much was growing uncomfortable.

The muscles in his leaves tightened and spasmed. His eyes shut and the tendrils connected to the tree disappeared. His body jerked and he threw his head back to let out a high-pitched cry. It was more so comparable to the sound of a woman screaming than anything else.

Ash jumped up from his spot on the ground and ran over to Bellsprout. "What happened?!" he called out as he knelt by his pokémon. He inwardly cursed himself. He should've been watching instead of talking with Leaf and Damian over lunch.

* * *

Izzy stalked the pidgey. It pecked at the ground for worms. Izzy wanted to scoff. The worm pokémon, caterpie was a fine snack, but just a worm? They offered so little sustenance to the likes of mammals that it wasn't even a worthy treat. No intelligent creature would eat worms. Luckily for Izzy, pidgey weren't intelligent. They weren't as stupid as pidove, or even as plump as them, but they were still quick and easy prey since they stayed so low to the ground during the day.

Her nose sparkled as she silently inhales the scent of the pokémon. She licked her lips, lowering her front half and wiggling her tail in the air in anticipation for a practiced quick attack. She reared back, and—

Bellsprout screamed.

Izzy winced and watched miserably as her lunch flew high into the air out of fright. She frowned. This was the second time Bellsprout ruined her hunt.

She turned away and bolted from tree trunk to tree trunk, zigzagging as her kind did. She used the momentum of her shooting herself forward to propel herself self further and faster. For what she understood, quick attack was simply a speed-enhancing technique combined with the likes of tackle or headbutt, both moves that she excelled in. Yamper used the move when herding in wooloo, and they were usually followed with a strike of white energy, which Izzy found difficult to manifest thus far.

Breaking the treeline, she skidded to a stop and stepped slowly over to Bellsprout and Ash. Ash held the grass-type's leaf arm while Sprout used its vine to twist Bellsprout's body. Izzy snarled.

"He's helping Bellsprout," Ash told Izzy.

She lifted a brow and sniffed at Bellsprout, who watched her with his soulless eyes. A shiver shot up her spine. So creepy. She rumbled questioningly. Bellsprout burbled, voice low and almost rumbling his answer, making Izzy's eye twitch. The idiot absorbed too much from the tree when learning giga drain. Izzy wondered what she was thinking when capturing it. She shook her head and ran over to where Charmander was eating and snatched up some of the nasty kibble, choking it down.

Charmander made no motion to attack her. In fact, he pushed the bowl over to her, as uninterested in the food as any pokémon with common sense would be.

Luckily, Bellsprout had drained not only the tree, but also Izzy's common sense, so she dug into the food, cringing as the crumbly pellets ground against her chompers. Were all pokémon expected to eat this? If it weren't for her rumbling stomach, she'd never willingly eat it.

* * *

Charmander followed Damian through the thick of the forest, tail swishing to and fro for his own entertainment. He always imagined being with a trainer would be more interesting than this, being able to battle other pokémon and trainers, but his trainer was rather boring. Even the sad excuse for training was a bore. Charmander would've rather been working on metal claw with Izzy or building a fire with Sprout, but those were impossible when his trainer called him to duty. Even if the duty offered zero enrichment.

"There."

Charmander jumped upon hearing Damian's voice for the first time since they'd ventured into the forest. He made a sound in question.

Damian pointed at a kakuna stuck to a tree several feet away. "That. I want you to attack it so I can catch it."

Eyes growing wide, Charmander considered. He was finally getting his chance to shine! On a kakuna off all things, but that didn't make it any less of an honor. Charmander clicked his tongue and nodded.

"Physical attacks won't do much so stick with ember at first, then knock it out with dragon rush," Damian explained.

The fire-type tilted his head. Weren't trainers supposed to call demands during battle? That's what Ash and Leaf did, but Damian wasn't like them in any way. Ash tried acting cool like Damian, but the boy hardly had the companions to back that facade up. Izzy was nice but hardly a collected pokémon, and Bellsprout was a bellsprout. Nothing cool in that. Leaf was just strange. A constant shift; going from cold, to outgoing and cheerful, and then to annoying and everything in between. Obnoxious was the best way Charmander could describe her.

He nodded and charged into battle, flinging the flames from his tail at the kakuna. Its protective plates visibly shifted when the sparks struck its back. At least it was alive; Charmander had wondered. Narrowing his eyes, Charmander slammed the tip of his tail into kakuna's side, slapping it off the tree. Its hold had been firm, as it yanked chips of bark off with it.

Charmander opened his mouth wide and gathers flames in the back of his throat before spitting them in a spiraling mini-sun. Kakuna angled its bottom half at Charmander and launched a series of purple pins. The flames devoured it upon contact and slammed straight it kakuna's face.

Smirking at his first attempt at flame burst, he conjured draconic energy around him, turning his flamed tail blue with its intensity. He shook with his power and his feet dug into the ground as he propelled himself forward.

Damian threw out a pokéball to suck in the already fainted kakuna. It was too late for Charmander to stop, and he slammed into another tree with enough force to create a crater. He stumbled and held onto his head and he faced Damian questioningly.

"Confusion isn't a good look. It was already down. There's no need to kick a down pokémon," Damian said.

Charmander relaxed. His trainer's words were true, no matter how frustrating his collision with the tree was. Kakuna had great defenses, but that had already been punctured by Charmander's flames. No point in tenderizing it further. His chest swelled with pride that his trainer had sympathy for the weak. Charmander scooped up the locked pokéball and ran over to Damian.

Charmander offered his best smile as he held the pokéball out, showing he could help catch pokémon, even if he couldn't do it as effectively as Izzy.

Damian flinched. Charmander did the same in reaction. The trainer looked away and took the pokéball. "Thanks... You did good."

* * *

It had been nearly a week of brief bursts of travel and near-constant training, and the trio were just now reaching the edge of Viridian City. There was a large sign welcoming them, and Leaf sighed loudly. "Finally! Civilization!"

Ash rolled his eyes. "We met that one kid—"

"That even Damian's Kakuna was able to send running!" Leaf countered. "How a mankey could ever be so weak, I have no idea."

"I think the question is: why's Kakuna so powerful?" Ash said, turning to Damian.

Damian shrugged. "I've been training it. I like the look it gave me."

"It looks dead inside. It probably is, actually." Leaf laughed, recalling how weedle would eventfully become a beedrill.

He glared.

Sensing an argument that would never be won, Ash interjected: "C'mon. All our pokémon need a checkup." He also needed to research what Bellsprout's pains were. He now limited the grass-type's training but needed to figure out how to prevent the pains in case the hindered him in battle. Izzy appeared fine on the surface, but Ash still wanted to get her checked.

Viridian City was easily three times the size of Pallet Town and housed more traveling trainers than actual residents. Surrounded by miles of forest, including the infamous Viridian Forest, the city was surprisingly composed of larger buildings that clashed with the older folks that lived there that remained in oddly colored houses that likely hardly offered enough room for a full family. As Ash wandered through with Izzy following at his heels, he observed closely. The shopping district of the city was massive, with the typical mart to side veneers selling their fresh goods.

There was even a man selling magikarp. He called out: "Excuse me, young man!"

Ash tensed, not used to strangers calling him out. "Yeah?"

"You seem like a worthy trainer that could use a new addition to your team! I have, right here, a fantastic pokémon!" He motioned with his arms towards magikarp.

Ash could hardly believe it. Some guy in Viridian City, the city with undoubtedly the strongest gym leader, was selling magikarp, the fish you could capture in literal puddles after a storm. Izzy stepped over to the tank holding the stupid fish. She sniffed. It was fresh. She licked her lips. Its eyes were even more soulless than Bellsprout's. They also made no sounds when eaten.

Izzy wagged her tail and barked at Ash to buy it for her.

"You can't be serious, Izzy," Ash mumbled. "I'm sorry, but I can find a magikarp anywhere else."

"Ah, but would you betray your pokémon's wishes?" the salesman asked with a smirk.

"She just wants to eat it. C'mon, Izzy. You can go hunting after we get you checked out."

The man looked appalled as Izzy left behind her trainer.

They made it to the pokémon center, spotting Damian and Leaf, who'd gone a different way after they separated when Leaf wanted to buy some fruit for Sprout. "There you are!" she called from across the place. "I thought you'd make it before us."

"Got caught up with a magikarp salesman," Ash explained. "Izzy wanted to eat them."

Leaf cringed. "Gross."

"Are you a freaking vegan or something?" Damian said.

"I am, actually."

Damian blinked. Then smirked.

"No. Don't say it."

Damian opened his mouth.

"I said don't!"

"That would make you a—"

"Stop!"

"—a cannibal, _Leaf_."

She groaned. "I'm going to buy a magikarp."

Damian's smirk fell. "Why waste your money?"

"Because anything's better than being near you!"

Damian chuckled as Leaf stormed out of the pokémon center. Turning to Ash, he said: "She's something else."

"I can tell," Ash said, still feeling like the odd one out. "I should get Izzy and Bellsprout checked out..."

Damian shrugged, pointing over to the front desk.

A lady in a nurse's outfit and pink hair sat behind the desk, looking rather bored. She wore stress marks. Ash walked over, lifting Izzy into his arms. "Excuse me," he started, catching the nurse's attention. "I'd like it if you could look my pokémon over." He grabbed Bellsprout's pokéball from his belt.

"Of course!" she said, voice betraying her previous expression. She put a sterilized pan on the desk. "Put your out pokémon on that and put the ball right here." She pointed at the pan with cup spots. "I'll need your ID before I can treat them. Treatment is free of charge, but a night here will cost, as will food."

Ash placed Izzy on the tray, a shiver running up the dark-type's spine as the cold feel covered her paw pads. Taking one look at the nurse, Izzy's tail started swaying. She yipped to get the lady's attention.

The nurse smiled and pet Izzy behind the ear. "Well, aren't you a cute, little thing?" She laughed softly as Izzy leaned into the contact. The dark-type's tongue stuck out the side of her mouth as she relished the affection. This was a feeling she could get used to.

"Uh, excuse me, miss?"

"Call me Nurse Joy," she said halfheartedly as she continued amazing Izzy with how skilled she was a finding the best spot to scratch. Izzy's foot started thumping the tray.

"Nurse Joy," Ash reiterated. "I'd like a key to my room."

"Oh!" Nurse Joy pulled from Izzy, who wore an annoyed gaze directed at Ash. Joy rummaged through a desk drawer and held out a gold-colored key. "Room seven, down the hall to the left."

Ash took the key with a thanks, feeling uneasy leaving Izzy behind. He looked back, seeing that Izzy was having another moment with Nurse Joy, before going down the hall and into the room he'd been assigned. He sighed and leaned against the door. It was all a breath of fresh air despite its drab color scheme of ugly beiges and creams. The carpet was clean enough and it didn't smell stale, but it looked entirely uninspired. That wasn't to say it was terrible, as an aquarium cover an entire wall. He could imagine a magikarp in it, but quickly shook the thought out of his head. Izzy would've just eaten that one, and it was likely too expensive for Ash's current budget.

He tossed his bag on the bed, tossing the dirty clothes into the clothes hamper to wash later. He wasn't sure if that was a free service, but he'd pay for it if he had to. He'd rather fork over a few bucks than have to wear filthy clothes for another day. He grabbed his last clean outfit — pajamas — and quickly took a shower, getting rid of the caked-on grime. He never knew a week with no showers could be so miserable. Sure, he cleaned himself up a few days in when they came across a lake, but it wasn't like they could undress and take a bath in it. Besides, Leaf spotted a clutch of newly hatched ekans swimming in it. No way was Ash taking the risk of being bitten all for the sake of cleanliness.

Sighing as he left the steaming bathroom, he finished drying his hair off and tossed the towel into the hamper of dirty clothes. He figured he may well do that while he had the chance.

He found the kitchen and a second lobby before he found the laundry room. There was only one other person there. A boy around Ash's age, maybe a year older with purple hair and a midnight-inspired outfit of dark purples and navy. Ash tried opening on the washers, and found it wouldn't budge. It wasn't in use and didn't have any clothes in it.

"How do you work this thing?" he asked the boy.

Met with a gaze colder than the like of Damian's, Ash shuddered. "Put your key in the top."

Ash blinked before placing the key into the slot just above the washer door. With a turn, a satisfying click sounded and Ash opened the door. "Cool." It was a good way of keeping trainers' clothes from being stolen. He put everything in and started it up, taking his key back. "And it won't open until the key's back in?" he asked the boy.

"Duh."

That's what Ash got for trying to make conversation about laundry. He changed his approach. "You're a trainer, right? Want to battle later?"

The boy turned and smirked. "A rookie like you wants to battle me?"

Ash's expression soured. "I don't see why not."

"I've been competing in the battle lodge," Paul said. "I'm D-rank."

Viridian City had its own battle lodge, something similar to the battle club in Unova. It was a stolen tradition only placed in this city since the gym leader was almost always out of commission; a sort of consolation prize for trainers looking to battle the gym leader, which was ill-advised to begin with. Less than one percent of the people who challenge the Viridian City gym succeeded in their task. There were once even rumors that pokémon had died in there, but the league never confirmed it.

The battle lodge followed the same ranking system as most current systems.

That worried Ash. "How many badges do you have?" he asked.

"None, yet."

Ash took a step back. This boy was competing against others with multiple badges when he had none to his name? It wasn't unheard of, but it didn't make it any less impressive. He could be a great challenge for Ash. "All right then! We'll battle."

The boy lifted a brow before shaking his head in disbelief. "Fine. Battle lodge at noon tomorrow. Ask to battle Paul."

* * *

TMs were interesting. More often than not, they were a faster alternative to teach certain pokémon moves that would normally take them years to learn, but the latest decade offered more visibility with them, allowing pokémon to use moves unnatural to them. They were little disks that you transferred into your pokémon's memory manually. They were highly controversial in Unova despite them being the inventors of the infinite TM.

Ash flipped through the selection the mart had. Despite how few they had, they were all high-quality; not the likes of round or attract to be found. Why those moves were turned to TMs when hydro pump and outrage existed were beyond him. Pausing, Ash pulled out on TM that caught his eye. It was a one-time use TM so it was on-sale. Since no one wanted those TMs anymore, all stores did all they could to get rid of them. It didn't bother Ash.

He pulled out his PokéDex and search zigzagoon. What came up was the one not found in Galar. He clicked it nonetheless and nodded. Satisfied.

Through TM, Izzy could learn hidden power, thunder, shadow ball, and so much more. The normal-type was the most versatile type. Ash wasn't one-hundred percent on Izzy being able to learn it since she took a far different form compared to the usual zigzagoon, but it made sense that they shared much of the same movesets. Shutting his PokéDex, he stepped over to the counter and put the TM down. "This is it," he said, pulling out his money. Though he took care to save up as much money as he could in the past couple years, chores only paid so much.

The cashier nodded and scanned the TM. "A thousand."

That was still pricey, but that left Ash with a remaining two-thousand so it wasn't terrible. A permanent TM, no matter the move, would've been triple the price. Ash handed over the money and took the TM with him.

Ice beam.

It would really assist Izzy when she faced Brock. Her normal-type moves would do slow little, and she'd likely lose her teeth if she used bite on a rock-type. Ice beam would be a great addition to her moveset. And if she couldn't learn it... Well, there was always that gyarados Ash wanted.

* * *

"Can you use ice beam?" Ash asked.

Izzy tilted her head, ear twitching as her mind swarmed. She nodded in confirmation. "Try it, at that tree." So that's why they were at the edge of Viridian City, directly on the treeline. She turned to the tree Ash pointed at and focused. She opened her furry-jawed mouth and a ping-pong ball-sized orb formed in her mouth. A chill shot through the air as the chilled energy sat dormant for only a moment before splitting into three zigzagging lines of freezing force. A silver hue surrounded the icy blue strings as they shot forward and instantly added a layer of frost to the front of the tree. It ceased when Izzy's teeth started chattering. She stared disappointingly as the frost she'd put on the tree started melting the moment the assault stopped.

"That was great!" Ash cheered, scooping Izzy into his arms. She held a colder aura now, but that didn't deter Ash from hugging her close. "Now not even rock-types will have the right to underestimate you now."

She leaned into the hug and playfully nipped at his fingers. Ash was right. While the attack obviously didn't come from an ice-type just from the appearance alone, it was a good first attempt. Those slow, measly ice-types wouldn't stand a chance. Her ice beam would freeze them solid and she'd use them as a scratching post. Her claws could use a sharpening.

"Paul won't stand a chance," Ash said with a wide smile.

Izzy yipped in question.

"Someone I met yesterday. We have to go if we want to make it by noon."

Izzy jumped from Ash's arms and grunted understandingly. While training in hunting had done her well, she needed to take on actual pokémon opponents. Sprout offered so little stimulation in battle, it was unreal.

They walked through the city marketplace, Ash noting that the magikarp salesman was no longer set up there. When he looked down, he laughed. Izzy was waddling with her steps. She huffed and looked away when she realized what Ash was laughing at. It wasn't like her to walk so slowly, but in a place as populated as this, it wouldn't be wise to run around. Her fur bristled with embarrassment.

Her nose twitched. Could it be?

Another sniff. It was.

Heart pounding, Izzy charged at one particular booth and scratched at it. The lady running it looked over and smiled at the familiar sight.

"Izzy, don't run off like that!" Ash called as he wandered through the maze of people. It wasn't hard to find the ball of black and white fur. He picked her up and held her in a cradling manner. He looked up to see the lady, and he stuttered out: "Uh, sorry about that." He chuckled humorlessly.

The lady stood a few inches taller than him, but judging by her features, she was quite obviously several years older than him. She had long, curly orange hair that was put up in a high, sideways ponytail. Thick framed glasses rested on her forehead and a casual green shirt matched her capri pants.

"It's no issue," she said, a voice to match her sweet appearance. "I didn't think trainers from Galar were allowed into Kanto yet."

Ash's nervous smile fell. "I am Kantonian." He cringed the moment they left him.

She frowned. "Then how do you have a Galarian zigzagoon? If you smuggled it here, I will have you arrested."

Izzy growled and tried snapping at the lady. "I didn't smuggle her," Ash said. "I got her from Professor Oak." Keeping it from whoever this person was, was out of the question. Arrest meant an instant suspension of trainer licenses and having all your pokémon taken away. Ash couldn't risk that.

"You're kidding. He's breeding them already..." She sighed deeply. "I guess I can't blame you then. You seem like a rookie so you likely don't understand the issue with you having that."

"Who are you anyway?" Ash asked, letting Izzy crawl onto his shoulder.

"Sonia of Galar's Research Labs," she said simply. "I'm here to ensure Kanto is safe for Galar trainers to travel to."

That was odd. No other land did that. Trainers were largely allowed to travel to and from different regions so long as they had a passport and vaccinated pokémon. "Is it up to standards yet?"

"It's tame as could be," Sonia said with a groan. "So boring. So much so, I'm selling curry to make time pass by faster."

Izzy waggled her body and barked that she'd like some. Ash looked up at her oddly. Usually the only thing on her menu was live prey and berries if she's injured enough. "Uh, I guess I'll take two bowls then," Ash ordered.

Sonia's beamed; Ash would've said quite literally, but shook the thought out of his head. "Coming right up!"

Ash rocked on his heels awkwardly as he watched Sonia chop several vegetables Ash had never seen. Everything went into a pot of simmering water dyed a nasty mud color with the pack of seasoning Sonia used. Izzy drooled as the steam of the cooking curry swirled around her. Given Ash's lack of reaction, Izzy assumed her trainer had finally gotten used to it.

Ash's PokéDex went off. When he opened it, he saw it was five minutes to noon. Great. He'd miss his match with Paul at this rate. He couldn't lie, though; the curry smelled amazing.

Sonia filled up two large bowls of the delicious curry and some rice. At least Ash hoped it was good. She set them in front of the partners.

"Zigzagoon can eat on the counter," she said.

Izzy hissed but took her spot nonetheless.

"Her name is Izzy," Ash explained, lifting his bowl up. He took a bite. His eyes glowed brilliantly and stars seemed to appear around him. He dug in like a tepig, with little more control than even Izzy. It was only a couple minutes later that he laid the bowl down with a satisfied sigh. Izzy was cleaning her face. Not a spot of food remained in her bowl. "That was amazing." He understood why Galar was so secretive. If anyone had their hands on that recipe, they'd be able to control minds.

Sonia laughed. "Everyone has that same reaction. It's the dried leeks from... Er, nevermind."

Ash lifted a questioning brow. Strange. Then again, no one needed to know how to cook that good. Sure, his mom could cook on a masterful level, but the way Sonia cooked... It was something alien. He shrugged. "Thanks for the food. How much?"

"This is to pass time. I don't charge anything."

Ash was having a dream. That was the only explanation. "So you'll be here at dinner time, too?" he asked, desperate to get another bowl of what he could only assume was a gift from Arceus itself as soon as possible.

Sonia smirked. "How bold of you to ask me on a date."

Ash's face went red. "What?! No, that's not what I meant." It hadn't even crossed his mind.

Sonia threw her head back laughing. "I know, I know. You're just so easy to read." Ash turned away defiantly, much like Izzy would; she was a bad influence. "But, yes, I'll be here. Stop by before seven, and you won't starve."

With a nod and a swift thanks, Ash turned with Izzy on his shoulder. He had a bad feeling. He'd shown someone from the Galar region that he had one of their pokémon, and told that it was Professor Oak that gave it. He felt like a snitch, but was it really his fault? Others had seen Izzy. Nurse Joy even had Izzy in the database now. Keeping Izzy a secret was impossible at this point. He couldn't fight the feeling of guilt, however. He hoped Professor Oak didn't get in serious trouble.

The battle lodge was a large building with an extravagant design. Dome-shaped with a large pokéball design painted the front with several layers of aluminium plating over the top of it. It was a neat design on the outside, but it'd be burned down with any powerful flamethrower.

Nonetheless, Ash entered and stepped up to the main desk. He stared in awe. The building was huge and seemed to consist of three different levels. The first floor alone had six different fields, one of which was a pool that could easily house two gyarados should the battle call for it. What kept one battle from interfering with another, Ash couldn't quite figure out. There were two battles currently going on. An arcanine versus a clefable, and a sandslash against a pidgeot, so they were obviously of a more skilled rank than him.

A gruff man said: "I assume you want to battle."

Ash nodded. "Yeah. Here's my PokéDex."

The man took it and opened it to search for identification. "A rookie class, eh? Don't get many of those these days."

"I want to battle Paul," Ash said, hoping the boy hadn't left. It was still within the hour, but nearly twenty minutes into it. Paul didn't seem like a guy with much patience.

"A D-rank? Do you have a death wish for your pokémon?"

Izzy hissed and snarled.

"Is he here?" Ash said, rather annoyed at this point. Ranks were only viable in the battle lodge, not anywhere else. If Paul could up his rank with no badges, who's to say Ash couldn't do the same?

"Yeah. Top floor," the man said, handing over the PokéDex.

"Thanks," Ash said halfheartedly as he pocketed the 'Dex. "C'mon, Iz."

Izzy followed in a mad dash, pulling ahead of Ash when they bolted up the stairs. Luckily neither tired. Traveling really helped with Ash's stamina so far. Once he found a way to separate himself from Leaf and Damian, his traveling would hopefully be a lot quicker with more in-depth training as he wouldn't have any distractions from his human companions. That would be especially beneficial when it gave to furthering Bellsprout's giga drain, which, while usable, was hardly at a degree of power Ash needed, though there was also risk in separating. Ash had no clue about Bellsprout's anatomy like Sprout did, so Ash wouldn't be able to relax his friend's muscles.

Once to the top, his breath was heavier than usual, but had it been only a week earlier, he would've been exhausted just after the first few flights of stairs. He spotted Paul leaning up against the wall, watching another battle. Ash grinned and ran up. "Hey, I'm here!"

Paul glanced and straightened himself. "It's about time."

"Sorry, I—"

"Don't care."

Ash gave Paul a dull look. Izzy ran up to Paul, sniffing him. This was the human Ash wanted to battle. He gave Izzy a bad vibe, and the way he looked down at her made her rumble with a growl, backing up slowly to Ash. If he were to have an ability, it would no doubt be intimidate.

"What is that?" Paul asked.

"Izzy, my zigzagoon," Ash said, kneeling to comfort her with a quick pet. "She's my partner."

Paul scoffed. "Very well. Our battle will be three-on-three."

Ash paused for a moment. "I only have two pokémon right now."

"You're kidding."

"I've only been a trainer for a week now," Ash countered. "Route one only has so many pokémon."

Paul chuckled. "Of course. Makes sense, I supposed. I've been to two other regions now."

"Heh?" Ash took a step back. That was beyond unfair. He couldn't possibly take a challenge from a trainer who'd been to multiple regions. He stood no chance. If Paul thought he'd get easy pickings, he had another thing coming to him. "I... I can't—"

"Calm down. I've just traveled through them to get here." Paul wore a smirk, seeing how easily he sparked fear in Ash. "Now, let's get this over with. Two-on-two."

Ash hesitated a moment before nodding. If Paul pulled out a fully evolved pokémon, there was no way Ash would let either Izzy or Bellsprout on the battlefield. They took a field on the far left, away from the other rookie-level battlers. At first, it confused Ash as to why the more powerful trainers battled on the bottom floor while those of lesser skill were reserved for the top floor, but it made sense. The more skilled opponents would have more intense battles, and thus cause a lot more tremors. It was safer for them to be on the ground floor, as to not cause the entire building to collapse.

They stood opposite of each other, eyes hard on one another. Paul plucked a downsized pokéball from his belt and primed it. "I'll pick first. Grotle, standby for battle!" He threw the ball and out came a mostly green quadruped pokémon with a mustard yellow shell that had two lush bushes on it. It had a sharp fang at the front of its mouth and a wide bottom jaw. From what Ash could tell, none of its anatomy went to waste. It wasn't made to be cute. It was built to oppose and be opposed.

Ash pulled out his PokéDex and scanned it, finding what he wanted. A pure grass-type. That made things easier. He gripped the pokéball and turned to Izzy. "I'm letting him take this fight, okay?"

Izzy glared at Ash and rumbled, but her shoulder blades went up and down in a shrug.

"Alright, Bellsprout, I choose you!" He threw out the ball and Bellsprout materialized in a bright beam. He looked around and turned to Ash. "This is a battle. I need you to do your best against that grotle."

Bellsprout blinked and turned to face Grotle. One of his type. He burbled and waved a leaf limb. Grotle grunted his greeting.

Paul cut them off with a demand: "Razor leaf!"

"Vine whip," Ash said.

The bushes on Grotle shook and dozens of knife-edged leaves in the shape of crescents shot forward. Bellsprout kept his beady eyes on them before shooting his vines out, skewering them. Ash frowned when he noticed Bellsprout was a lot slower than normal, but chalked it up to him being out of the sun. The few leaves Bellsprout failed to capture were easily avoided with the sway of his hips.

"Go in for a bite!"

Grotle was much like Sprout in with how it scratched the ground before charging. Its steps were short and slow, obviously not built for speed. Bellsprout swung out its vines and smacked Grotle across the face with the kebab of razor leaves he'd caught. Though the blunt force of the hit failed to cease its movements, the bladed leaves slicing at Grotle's face was more than enough to make it halt.

"Nice!" Ash called. "Keep it up and use wrap!"

"Charge it now!" Paul shouted.

Grotle opened his eyes, only for a vine to jab at it, making him cry out. "Bite its vines!" Grotle opened his jaw and snapped at the incoming attack, grunting when he got hold of the foul-tasting vine. He yanked Bellsprout forward and began charging blindly. Bellsprout went with the momentum of the tug, but before Grotle smashed into it, he used his legs to shoot into the air and over Grotle.

"Dammit! Razor leaf in all directions!" Paul ordered.

"Poison powder!" Ash smirked, satisfied with the current situation.

Shaking his body, Bellsprout released a purple powder over Grotle before he could start trembling his trees. Bellsprout landed behind Grotle and ducked to avoid the frenzy of an attack. Using its roots, he shackled Grotle's hind legs and pulled the pure grass-type into a forced belly flop.

Paul's hands shook as he gritted his teeth. "Pull yourself together! You're losing to a rookie's first capture!"

Grotle panted heavily, the poison starting to take effect. He knew better than to move; it only spread it further, but he also knew better than to defy his trainer. A little poison could be fixed by Nurse Joy, but the anger he'd get from Paul couldn't. Grotle pushed himself up on sturdy legs, opening his swelling eyes. He stepped on Bellsprout's legs, making it squeal out.

Off the field, Izzy's fur stood as she forced herself to not run out there to save her teammate.

"Keep your health up with giga drain!" Ash called.

"It's too late," Paul said, now wearing the same smirk Ash had only moments ago. "Body slam it!"

Green tendrils wrapped around Grotle's leg and began sapping the life force out of him, but as Bellsprout began glowing with the satisfaction of gaining health, Grotle turned around and collapsed on the pinned pokémon. Bellsprout's eyes were unmistakably wide not even a moment before Grotle landed, and were shut when Grotle stood himself up.

Ash stood there for a moment before Paul said: "This round goes to me. Let's hope that zigzagoon of yours is any good."

Izzy barked, flashing fang at the opposing trainer.

Ash lifted Bellsprout's pokéball and recalled him. "You did good. Your efforts won't go to waste." Pocketing it, he could just imagine the saddening sight of Bellsprout still trying to dance with the praise. His gaze turned to a glare. "Get out there and avenge Bellsprout. Make it quick."

Izzy nodded and ran out on the field. Given permission to do as she pleased, she opened her mouth and fired a series of jagged frosty lines. Grotle's reddened eyes grew wide as the chill felt as though it were slicing into his back shell. Clenching his eyes shut, he threw out several dozen more leaves. Ceasing her ice beam, Izzy shot forward with a white stream following after her as she meticulously dodged each and every leaf thrown her way. With a burst of speed, she ducked just under Grotle before launching into a headbutt from down low, slamming her head into the bottom of Grotle's jaw. He grunted, unable to cry out as his mouth was forced shut. Izzy's blow was powerful enough to force Grotle momentarily onto his hind legs as he tried keeping balance. Before it could come back down, most likely to collapse into a body slam Izzy knew she couldn't endure, the same ball of ice formed in her mouth and shoot out in brutal zigzags.

The close-range attack met a rough underside with enough force to throw both pokémon back. Grotle flipped onto its backside, while Izzy rolled onto her feet, panting heavily as the power of that ice beam had drained her. She smirked as Paul recalled Grotle.

"You only got that win because Grotle couldn't fight on his back, not because he was knocked out," Paul told Ash.

Izzy scoffed. As if the thing could've defeated her even when it was on its feet. It was powerful, but limited due to Bellsprout's poison powder. To her absolute horror, Ash nodded. "I know, but a win is a win." Izzy barked angrily at Ash. "You and I both know it's true, Izzy."

Wrong. Ash was wrong, and Izzy knew it. She'd fought for her life more than she'd care to admit, and she knew pokémon's limits; she tested them and she'd been tested. No way could Grotle have defeated her, even on its feet. She turned her back to Ash and awaited her next opponent with bristling fur.

"Elekid, standby for battle!" What seemed to be the pre-evolved form of electabuzz appeared in a beam of light. Izzy would've laughed at how silly looking the plug prongs on top of his head looked had she not been angery by Ash. She couldn't help but wonder it the electric-type was anywhere near as aggressive as morpeko or if they were as tame as a yamper. Elekid wore a confident stare, arms crossed, while Izzy's eyes glowed an dangerous neon. Neither faltered under each other's stares.

Elekid held his arms out to better illustrate his more bulky size.

Izzy tensed.

"Quick attack!" both trainers called in unison.

In blurs of white, the two clashed head-on repeatedly from every which direction, neither flinching with the collisions. Izzy snarled, swiping her claws dangerously close to Elekid's eyes, making the electric-type fall back with a flip. With the orders of his trainer, he started spinning his arm around to charge his electricity. Sparks of glowing electricity formed around his fist with a thunder punch, and he charged forward.

"Dodge it!" Ash ordered.

Izzy opened her mouth with an ice beam, and shot it at Elekid's feet, tripping the electric-type with the icy chill alone. The electrical charge sparked out of existence almost immediately.

Despite the situation, Paul smirked and said from across the field: "Some partner, not listening do you."

Ash glared as Paul. "It's a fluke. She didn't hear me."

"Sure. Brick break it when it gets close!" Paul shouted at his pokémon.

Ash's eyes grew wide with horror. There was no way Izzy could ever hope to take that kind of fighting-type move. "Don't get near it, Izzy! Use growl!"

Izzy's ear twitched. She jumped forward, the air around her forehead becoming of pocket of white energy. Elekid smirked as he threw out an orange sparking arm, catching Izzy's gut in a chopping motion. Pink neon eyes grew wide as the lunch in her belly threatened her throat. Held in that position for what felt like forever, Izzy finally went sailing to the other side of the field, hacking up the familiar taste of iron.

"Izzy, are you—?!" _Don't ask stupid questions, Ash._ Of course Izzy wasn't okay. She just got hit with a more than able fighting-type move. "Return!" he called, lifting her pokéball.

The beam of light sought Izzy, but she forced herself up and stumbled away from it, snarling at Ash.

Paul relished in the sheer confusion plastered on Ash's face. "Finish it with thunder, Elekid. Make sure it doesn't get back up."

Elekid matched his trainer's expression and whirled both arms to charge the mass of electricity circulating its pronged head. Izzy's vision blurred as she opened her mouth to launch another ice beam. Black storm clouds grew overhead and clashed with the sound of a million-car car crash and blasted a blinding bolt of lightning down. The heat of the bolt heated and evaporated the likes of Izzy's pathetic attempt to retaliate before encasing her with a raging thousand-volt attack. Izzy's body shook and jolted even after the attack ceased.

Opening her twitching eyes, she looked up and cried out, the sound reverberating against the aluminium ceiling for what felt like ages before it died out.

She collapsed, defeated.

Ash stood stock stiff for only a moment and ran out. "Izzy," he called, but before he could make it to his friend, Elekid appeared in front of him, shaking his head. "Move!" Ash shouted, trying to go around it.

"You don't want to touch her," Paul said as he met Ash in the center of the battlefield. "You'll get electrical burns if you do."

"I don't care! Call you elekid back, you won!"

Paul gave Ash a strange look. "Recall your fainted pokémon."

Ash's hands shook as he lifted Izzy's pokéball to recall his fallen friend. A surprising jolt of electricity shot through him when the beam of light pulled Izzy back into the ball. He winced. He could only imagine how terrible it must've been for Izzy to suffer first-hand. She wasn't at a level that she could safely take attacks that powerful. Ash never should've accepted the challenge. Who knew what kind of injuries Izzy had if the mere presence of her being in the pokéball was enough to shock Ash through what was supposed to be unbreakable material.

Paul recalled Elekid and held out a handful of dollars.

Ash blinked. "I lost."

"For medical treatment."

"But the pokémon center is free..."

"Then use it to buy a TM or something. Just take it."

Ash hesitantly took it. A quick count told him Paul'd given him four thousand, what would've been a fair amount had Ash won, but it was too much to except for losing. "Are you going to report me to theft?" he asked, just making sure.

Paul glared and walked away.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you everyone who reviewed! Because of you, the chapters seem to be getting longer. Hope you liked the introduction of Paul and Sonia! Both are the buildup to something a lot bigger.**

**Also, yeah — Galarian Zigzagoon shares its movepool with normal Zigzagoon since it'd make no sense otherwise.**


	4. Forgiveness

**Obstruct**

* * *

_4._

_Forgiveness_

* * *

"Will they be okay?"

Nurse Joy offered the best smile she could given the circumstances. "They'll be just fine by morning. Chansey is already healing Zigzagoon, and Clefable is tending to Bellsprout. I must ask, though, are you aware your Bellsprout has unnaturally narrow veins?" When Ash's expression twisted into one of puzzlement, Joy continued: "This phenomenon is mostly found in wild bellsprout, but yours is even thinner than the average wild bellsprout. I noticed when I found they were full substance. Are you teaching it ingrain?"

"Giga drain," Ash corrected. His mind was buzzing with his recent loss, Izzy's refusal to listen to him, and this new information. He couldn't find it in himself to focus.

Nurse Joy winced. "That explains it. Bellsprout aren't made to absorb the energy of other pokémon, but rather take the complete nutrition of others or consume the sun rays. Ingrain is a manageable move sense they're taking water from the ground, but giga drain in unnatural. With how thin Bellsprout's veins are, it could be detrimental."

As if slapped, Ash stumbled back a step. He was hurting Bellsprout by teaching him a move. It was his fault Bellsprout went through those spasms. He hurt his pokémon. When he considered it, it did make sense that bellsprout and weepinbell weren't built to take energy from others. They learned no absorption moves through natural progression. Victreebel were different since they could learn the likes of leech life and stockpile. They could sap away the lives of others without killing them. "I had no idea," Ash said lowly.

"Is there a way to make them larger?" he asked. "Without hurting him anymore?"

"It hurts him?" She frowned.

Ash nodded, ashamed. "When I first started teaching him, he had a few spasms and screamed. I didn't know it was as bad as it is, so I just limited his training."

"Limiting it was a good call, but I suggest stopping it altogether. It takes a skilled individual to teach a bellsprout giga drain effectively."

Ash held his tongue. He wanted to call her bluff and say he was a skilled enough trainer; that he'd already gotten far enough that Bellsprout used it in his battle. The thought that almost a week's worth of effort would be fruitless left a foul taste in his mouth. If that's what had to happen, though, he had little choice. He couldn't keep hurting Bellsprout for the sake of having a powerful move to use against Brock.

* * *

"Where's Zigzagoon?"

Ash's expression soured. "Her name is Izzy."

Sonia rolled her eyes, set a bowl of curry in front of Ash, and then sat down with her own. "Okay, where is Izzy? You two seemed inseparable."

Ash liked to believe he and Izzy were inseparable, but him leaving the pokémon center proved that wasn't the case. A hand gripped around his heart as another wave of dread overcame him. He'd never been alone. He always had his mom, or Damian and Gary, or Izzy; someone was always with him even if he wanted isolation. Even with Sonia sitting across from him, he felt empty without someone meaningful near him. Even Gary offered another part of Ash that normally wasn't there; one ready to battle at a moment's notice, a competitive side that wouldn't be half as prominent without him there to fuel it.

"Ash?"

He looked up. "She's at the pokémon center. Lost her first battle."

"That bad?"

"Brick break and then a thunder."

"That's tough, kid," Sonia said. "You wouldn't make it one day in Galar, though. The only place I've been that's tamer than Kanto is Alola. Cozy place. Everyone in sync with nature and their pokémon. Their Z-moves are nothing on what Galar has, though." She laughed to herself.

Ash listened, taking a bite, finding it not up to his tastes. It wasn't awful. It was great in fact, but there was something off about it, almost like he was incapable of enjoying it. He choked it down.

"You look like someone close died. Lighten up."

Ash dropped his spoon into the bowl of rice and curry. "You don't know what I'm going through right now!" he snapped, wincing instantly.

Sonia took a bite of her food and waited until Ash sat and calmed himself. "Try having a pokémon lose its ultimate battle." Her words were as dull as the expression on her face and made Ash's eyes widen. "Like I said: you wouldn't make it in Galar. Death is as natural as birth, as natural as us breathing in and out, just easier."

Death being easier? That hardly made sense. Nothing was harder than accepting the death of someone you cared for. Ash couldn't imagine; he didn't want to. The mere consideration of his mom or one of his friends leaving the world made him sick to the stomach.

"You're wrong," he said. "It's not easier."

Sonia shrugged. "Think what you will. You'll see one day that mercy is easier done than said."

Ash assumed Sonia had no clue what she was talking about. Changing the subject he said: "Can you tell me more about the zigzagoon in Galar?"

Sonia smirked. "Curious, huh? Well, I'm sure you've already figured out most of what's to know. Aggressive, likes to hunt, a slobber-making machine. It's probably worse here since it's not as cold and dry here as it is in Galar. They can learn any moves a 'normal', as you people would say, zigzagoon can. Not usually loving as Izzy is, but it's not unheard of. Mostly popular with troubled trainers rebelling against the region, so don't be surprised if you eventually see other trainers from Galar here with their zigzagoon; they want out as soon as possible.

"We even have a research facility in Vermilion City working on mending us together," she continued. "It's run by Professor Sakuragi. That old man honestly thinks Galar and Kanto can work out their differences with time. I suggest staying away from Vermilion City at all costs. He is not sane."

The corners of Ash's mouth twitched up for a moment. "Vermilion City has a gym in it. I'll go there eventually." In fact, it would be in the near future since Lt. Surge was considered one of the easier opponents due to his tendency to use only one or two pokémon against challengers. That didn't automatically mean victory, though, as the success rate was still only at thirty percent, a major step up from the less than one percent Viridian City had, though.

"You're taking the gym challenge?" Sonia perked up, interested. "Have you defeated the gym here?"

Ash shook his head. "No. I don't even think he's here right now. Besides, he only accepts challengers from people with at least six badges."

"Gym leaders can say no to challengers? Ten years ago, that would be like begging for a lawsuit in Galar."

"Killing someone's pokémon would insinuate the same result, I'd think."

"Dynamaxed pokémon can't die, so the likelihood of that happening is non-existent." Sonia shrugged. "Besides, Galar is more technically advanced than Kanto. We have our ways of keeping pokémon alive."

"You're telling me a lot about Galar," Ash commented. "What's next? You're gonna give the PokéDex entry of every pokémon there?"

"What's a PokéDex?"

Her neutral expression grew confused, and Ash couldn't tell if she was pulling his leg or not. She claimed Galar was more technically advanced than Kanto, yet she didn't know about the single best device for recording pokémon data? Were Galar and Kanto on such bad grounds that they didn't even share the same technology? Did that mean he shouldn't share it with her? If Professor Oak hadn't told them yet, then it wasn't up to him to do so.

"Professor Oak's invention," he said simply. "You should ask him about it when you get the chance."

Sonia frowned and gave him a harsh stare. "I'll be sure to... Tell me: do you know the history between Galar and Kanto?"

"No..?"

"Don't look so hopeful," Sonia said with an eye roll. "I'm not a history teacher. I'm not reliving it just so you know a little more about the world."

"Then why ask?"

"Because I wanted to know the answer. You're thirteen, right?"

"Ten," he corrected.

"Praise, Zacian, you're young." She grimaced. Why Kanto would allow ten-year-olds out on the field after such a recent war surpassed comprehension. A year ago, and kids were allowed to train creatures capable of supernatural powers that could bring any human to their knees. "Then you don't need to get caught up in the conflict. I suggest waiting a few months before letting any gym leaders see Izzy, so the announcements will have reached them by then. Otherwise, you'll be mistaken for someone of Galar."

A few months?! Ash was, at most, two weeks away from Pewter City, and no way was he going to wait any longer than that for his first gym battle. He might lose as badly as he did earlier, but that was a risk he'd take.

Inwardly, he shook the thought from his mind. No, he couldn't lose anymore. It wasn't an option. Izzy was so angry with him before, and he simply couldn't risk that again. He hoped she forgave him for his incompetents. She may not have listened to him when he told her to dodge, but that didn't make his lack of understanding before any better.

They'd both been at fault.

"I can't promise anything," Ash said, knowing well he'd be going against her suggestion completely.

Sonia laughed. "Figured. At least my people and yours have one thing in common: a refusal to follow common sense."

* * *

Ash woke with a start. Snapping his eyes open, the first thing he noticed was how dark it was. The lights of outside buildings didn't spill in through the window, and the annoying light from the hall no longer refused him sleep from underneath the door. The dark was nothing to fear, but the things the darkness concealed were.

Pushing himself out of bed, he rubbed his neck, used to the feeling of Izzy's fur and the smell of Bellsprout's toxins. Sighing, Ash tried flipping on the bedside lamp. Twisting the knob a few times, he realized it wasn't coming on. A power outage. That explained the lack of light from outside. Outages weren't uncommon, though Ash hadn't experienced one for a little over a year. Zapdos and Raikou were often at odds with each other so if they decided to clash again. The entirety of Kanto, and even Johto if that was their battlefield, would be out for several hours at least. That's why electrode and ampharos were highly valued between the lands. They may not be strong in battle, but they generated enough electricity to power several cities at a time until all things went back to normal.

He grabbed his flashlight and left his room. Judging from the lack of concerned chattering, he assumed no one else noticed the outage. When he made it to the waiting room, he saw Nurse Joy and Chansey, an oil lamp to guide them.

"Nurse Joy," he acknowledged.

"The generators went out," she explained without prompting. "Even the backup."

"Was it the legends?"

Her face turned grim. "I don't think so. We would've heard it if their fight got bad enough to knock out the backup generator."

They likely would've heard it either way. Many said Zapdos's wings created terrible thunderstorms capable of swallowing hundreds of miles worth of sky, and Raikou's roared literal thunderclaps. If they collided, there'd be a crazy storm, at the very least.

Legendaries' existence were more often than not speculated, but with the likes of Kanto and Johto's shared trios, no one denied their existence. They were a part of the world. What people speculated was their origin, why they were as powerful as they were, and what they added to the world with their strength.

"Why not power-up the backup generator then?" Ash asked.

"The pikachu we have here had no effect on it."

Ash gulped. "Meaning..."

"Someone must have turned it off." Nurse Joy nodded. "That's why I haven't let my post." Doing so would make it easy for whoever caused the outage to get into the back room with all the pokémon.

"How are—?"

The sound of glass shattering cut him off, and the room lit with the blinding beams of pokémon leaving their balls. Ash twisted around, surprised with the appearance of two pokémon. One was an ekans, purple in color and a flattening neck showing it was close to evolving. The other one floated in the air, matching ekan's color, and spouting nasty greenish-purple fumes from its wide pores. Ash pulled out his PokéDex to confirm it was a koffing. Ekans and koffing. Two of the most deadly poison-types native to Kanto. Only muk could compare and even surpass them.

Not good.

Ash jumped when the front door crashed open. He shone his flashlight that direction to see a man, a woman, and a meowth standing on its hind legs with its arms crossed. The two humans wore a white uniform with a red 'R' printed over the front of it. A sense of dread he'd felt earlier that day overcame him as he recognized the iconic uniform.

"Team Rocket," he said aloud, mouth going dry.

"So the word's gone around," the woman said. "We're back, and kicking off our duties by stealing every pokémon in this place!"

Those words snapped Ash out of his fearful state. "I won't let you!"

"How cute," the man mocked. "A brat thinking he can stop us. Koffing, do show him how wrong he is. Smog!"

Ash instinctively reached for his belt, only to find no pokéball. At that moment he wanted to smack himself. He picked a fight with two Team Rocket members with some of the most powerful poison-types, all while having no pokémon of his own ready to battle.

"Chansey, use protect!" Nurse Joy called.

Chansey jumped in front of Ash at a speed such a plump pokémon had no right to reach. Lifting her arms, a transparent shield of many glossy colors materialized over her, easily tanking Koffing's blast of black toxins.

The lady smirked. "If all you can do is protect, this will be easy. Ekans, use iron tail to break it!"

Ekans hissed and charged through Koffing's smog. It came out with no harm, whipping its glowing metallic-colored tail into the air before crashing it against the shield. Chansey squeaked as the force made her stumble. Ekans threw its tail around before smashing into the protect, shattering it and slamming into Chansey, who cried out.

"Acid!" the woman called out.

Ekans hacked up a stream of foul-smelling liquids. Chansey shut her eyes immediately, and her nurse hat began to steam and corrode as the acid hit its mark. Using what little muscle mass she had, Chansey grabbed Ekans and threw it at the criminal duo. Normal chansey didn't fight. They had neither the body or mind to do so. To force them into battle was torture as they wanted nothing more than to heal others, yet this Chansey appeared well trained. Perhaps not to fight, but to defend.

Nurse Joy pulled Ash away from the fight. She shouted at Team Rocket: "Stop this, right now! Have you not learned your lesson?!"

The two smirked. "But of course," the man said. "Though you mustn't understand what the lesson was."

"Pewter City always has their gym leader. Viridian, at this moment, doesn't," the woman further explained. "But enough casual conversation. Finish the job, Ekans!"

"You too, Koffing! Sludge!"

Hacking once more, Ekans spat another stream of acid while Koffing launched globs of toxins already corroding each other by merely existing. Chansey reached to cover her face, but her arms proved uselessly short. A fiery stream of orange flames shot out, catching the attacks and baking them instantly. Chansey dared a look to see Clefable standing there.

Nurse Joy smiled. "So everyone is stable?"

Clefable didn't offer so much as a glance, simply giving a thumbs up.

"A fairy is helpless to poison! Poison fang, now!"

Ekans launched forward and opened its mouth wide to display growing fangs. Clefable's hands went from thumbs up to flipping up what appeared to be its pointer finger. She waggled them and opened her mouth to release a steaming torrent of water. Out Clefable's mouth, and into Ekans's it went, stopping the snake in its stance. Gurgling down the boiling water, it screamed out as its insides burned with the unwelcome drink. Falling to the ground, it began convulsing.

Clefable waggled a finger once more, wincing as electricity encircled it in a painful cloak. Even not used to it, Clefable knew how to use it effectively, launching into a full-blown tackle, knocking both Ekans and Koffing into their trainers.

"Are you kidding me?" Meowth shouted, surprising all but those he was with. "What kind of dumb luck does that thing have?!"

Clefable grunted.

"It doesn't matter!" the woman shouted, recalling her fallen pokémon as her partner did the same. "We have to get out of here."

Clefable's narrowed her eyes, wagging another finger. Something clicked within her as more static filled the room, this time around her hand. Glowing orange in the center and sparking aggressively thick volts. It grew fast, half the size of her, before she threw it at the criminals. Shooting forward faster than they ever could've hoped to run.

* * *

The fight was incredible, and Ash was nothing but a burden in it all. A prop. No way could he get back to sleep now, even after Officer Jenny took the crooks away. It was all too fresh. He was glad no one was hurt, and he never expected to be much help against a group of criminals, but to be a burden was something that didn't sit well with him.

With a sigh, Ash sat up. The lights were back on with the back-up generator now activated. There were several trainers also awake now, waiting for their pokémon so they could leave. Damian or Leaf were nowhere in sight.

He stood and went over to the front desk. "How are my pokémon?" he asked. It wasn't that he was wanting to snatch them up and leave town immediately like all the others, but he still wanted to know.

"Zigzagoon's electrical burns have been almost completely healed, and Bellsprout is perfectly fine," Nurse Joy explained, her usual cheerful voice drained from the entire ordeal.

"Can I have Bellsprout back then?" he asked. He didn't want to be a bother, but he needed someone close by him. If that someone was Bellsprout, so be it. Nurse Joy nodded and motioned for Chansey to retrieve the pokéball, which it came back with in ample time. Ash took it with thanks and went back to his spot. Letting his friend out, he smiled.

Bellsprout looked around and then up to see Ash. He waved his leaf and burbled happily.

"Good to see you, too," Ash said, petting the round of Bellsprout's head, making it bob back and forth. Even when Ash took his hand away, Bellsprout continued to sway. Ash couldn't deny how adorable Bellsprout was. Well, as adorable as a pest-eating pest could be.

"So, we're gonna have to stop learning giga drain, okay?"

Bellsprout stilled. He looked up with a head tilt. Didn't he already know the basics of that move? He used it in battle so didn't that make it official?

"I don't want you using it since it hurts you." At least it hurts him when used too much. How much was too much, Ash wasn't sure, so he decided to cease the technique altogether. "We can start working on other moves, like stun spore and razor leaf." He couldn't believe the words leaving his mouth. They weren't like him at all. "You understand?"

Bellsprout shook his head.

"Me neither."

The pokémon center cleared out slowly through the morning, and it was still relatively early when Ash decided it was time to head out for some fresh air as well. The door was still damaged from the electric attack Clefable sent at it. The smell of burning acid was a welcomed leave as he exited the building with a sigh. Bellsprout took long, clumsy steps beside him.

They made it to the show Ash found the ice beam TM for Izzy and walked in. It was dusty and dark compared to outside. Bellsprout looked around, not liking the looks of the place one bit. Burbling distastefully, he tugged at Ash's pant leg.

"Hang on, I'm looking for a move for you to learn," Ash said as he flipped through the TMs. Though he saw them all yesterday, he hadn't paid much attention to the ones he figured Izzy couldn't learn. He sought something that would help Bellsprout be a better battler. Swords dance and double team were always good moves to add to an arsenal, but the store didn't carry them. They had solar beam, but that costed four times as much money Ash had at the moment. It'd be a great move, and a surprising one, too. No one would suspect a little bellsprout would pack such a powerful move, but that would come later. Energy ball was another great option, but they only had the permanent version of the TM that costed way too much. Besides, Ash wanted something that would make Bellsprout a better battler overall, not just another powerful move to boot. About to give up, he checked the final tiny box of TMs and grinned.

Sunny day.

The perfect move. Bellsprout, though still faster than Paul's Grotle, was way too slow for Ash's liking. He knew how fast his buddy could be, and so see Bellsprout not at that level was saddening. Sunny day would fix that issue.

The move was a complex one. The user creates a dome over the battlefield that draws in light and intensifies it like a magnifying glass. The light within the dome was as bright as the sun and had the same warming properties as the sun, which allowed chlorophyll to activate. It also made growth grow the pokémon twice as large as they would otherwise, and solar beam would launch two times faster than usual.

The only issue would be fire-types, as sunny day powers up their fire moves, but it wasn't like Ash would pin Bellsprout against a fire-type. They'd be silly.

"Bellsprout what do you think—? Bellsprout?" Ash looked down to where Bellsprout was to find he wasn't there. Looking around, he found the grass-type trying on a silky white scarf he found on the shelf. "Bellsprout, what are you doing with that?"

Bellsprout twisted around surprised before tapping the scarf and tied it with his vines to look like a bow tie. He smiled, content.

"You can't have that."

Eyes growing wide, Bellsprout recoiled and covered the scarf with his arms so Ash couldn't possibly take it away.

"I have this for you," Ash said, holding up the TM. "It'll help you learn sunny day."

Bellsprout shook his head. He was already learning and grasping the concept of giga drain. No way was he going to start on another move. Well, at least not a battling move. He did need to learn a few moves to get Izzy's attention, and a scarf seemed like the best possible thing to do that. It'd make him look different so Izzy would see him more than a mere bellsprout. He'd be a classy bellsprout that was well-dressed and worked on mastering one move at a time. Just because Ash was flip-flopping didn't mean Bellsprout had to be that way.

Ash frowned. "Are you going to start disobeying me?"

He recoiled again at the thought. Shaking his head, Bellsprout couldn't believe Ash would come to such a conclusion. He may not have been an all-loyal pet, but he was still Ash's pokémon, thus listening was a given. In battle, at least. Outside of battle, disagreements could be had, like this one.

The scarf was his. He was wearing it, so that made it official. He couldn't wait to see Izzy's reaction to his new attire. He gurgled happily, shaping the scarf around his twig-like neck. Perfect.

Ash knew better than to let Bellsprout get his way. It was never a good idea to let a pokémon take what they want, but it didn't look like he'd be getting the scarf off him anytime soon, if ever. Sighing, Ash shook his head and said: "I'll see how much it costs."

Bellsprout started dancing. He'd won this battle.

Ash walked up to the front desk, the same man from yesterday there. "Excuse me, sir. How much is that scarf?" He pointed at Bellsprout.

The man glanced over and said: "Fifty."

Outrageously cheap.

"Okay, I'll take that, and then this." Ash handed over the TM. After paying for it, he dragged Bellsprout out. "Why did you want that thing anyway?"

Bellsprout held his leaves out to point to himself as if it were obvious.

"You think it looks good on you?"

Nod.

"Can't argue with that logic," Ash said with a laugh. He lifted Bellsprout's ball. "You need to return so I can teach you sunny day."

Before getting his approval, Ash pulled Bellsprout back into the pokéball and went back to the pokémon center. They had a machine that would allow Ash to transfer over the TM to Bellsprout. It was free to use and sat on the front desk next to Nurse Joy to ensure it was never tampered with. Ash nodded acknowledging that Nurse Joy was watching and placed Bellsprout's ball in the case and slid the TM disk in as well. When he pressed the button, the ball began to spin with the disk, Ash couldn't help but worry that Bellsprout was feeling the motions. Izzy hadn't, but knowing how crazy Bellsprout was, Ash had a sneaking suspicion that he could feel it.

The rim around the pokéball glowed a fiery red, a stark contrast to the icy blue Izzy's had given off but no less intense.

Through the device, Ash could see the disk getting scratched and ruined as Bellsprout absorbed the knowledge of sunny day. The permanent style of TMs had an extra layer of protection on the disk that was as unbreakable as a pokéball. Temporary ones weren't terrible, though. The scratches could be buffed out and the knowledge of the move could also be added again. That's why it was advised trainers keep used TMs.

The rim lit up once more before the light died down. The spinning slowed to a stop. Ash took the ball and the disk when it popped out. Though he couldn't see himself using sunny day for any other pokémon, he put it back in the case it came in and pocketed it.

Before he left the center again, he asked Nurse Joy: "When can I take Izzy back?"

Nurse Joy hummed in consideration as she clicked a few buttons on her computer. "Oh, dear... It would seem she's causing some issues for Clefable."

Wincing, Ash said: "Sorry. She's not the most well-behaved."

"That's fine. You can take her back now, though I wouldn't recommend battling too much."

"I'll take her then."

Nurse Joy nodded and sent Chansey to get Izzy. When the adorable pokémon came back with the pokéball on a tray, Ash took it. "Thanks for healing her."

"Just doing what's right," Nurse Joy said smiling, appearing to be back to her usual self.

Out the door and out the most populated part of the city, Ash let his two pokémon out of their pokéballs. Bellsprout popped out stumbling with his bow tie undone, as Ash expected. Izzy didn't wear her usual smile to greet Ash. Instead, she kept her eyes diverted toward the treeline. Her fur was a mess, looking like she'd only just been electrocuted.

"Izzy, come here," Ash said, kneeling to her level. "I can brush back your hair."

Pink eyes met Ash's, and she huffed, laying herself down where she stood.

"...Or I guess I could come over there and do it." Ash did as he said and started running his fingers through her fur, glad to know there wasn't an electric current going through her. As he dug his fingers through her fur, he felt her skin lacked scabs and bumps.

Izzy sighed deeply, content despite the bitterness simmering within her. She tensed with Ash's next words:

"I'll do my best to not disappoint you anymore. I'll help you reach an unbeatable level."

She dug her head lower to the ground. Unbeatable... Such a nice-sounding label. Izzy once thought she was unbeatable; way back when she lacked such a nickname. Then that man came with his blasted duck of a pokémon, blitzing her down with a single attack before capturing her and shipping her off to this unknown land.

A treaty.

A peace treaty.

An offering.

That's what she was until Professor Oak gave her to Ash.

Ash... He didn't understand her style of battling. Not from the moment they had their first battle together. The way he called out for her to dodge was not something she could easily follow. Not with her morals. She needed a sneaky approach, one that allowed her dark-typing to stand out. It was how she was born and raised.

Moving her head up, she licked Ash's hand once and stood, ready for a hunt. Rumbling, she charged into the forest. Ash didn't stop her.

Bellsprout had fixed his bow tie and looked crushed that Izzy hadn't noticed him at all. He made a move to follow after, but Ash stopped him with: "Not so fast! We need to practice sunny day."

Bellsprout shook his head and grew a handful of green tendrils to simulate he was still working on giga drain.

When Ash's face paled, Bellsprout wondered if the sunny day was made for Ash to get a bit more sun when such a moment arose. Sighing, the flower pokémon got rid of the tendrils and placed his leaf arms together. Then, a glowing orb expanded over Bellsprout from between his arms until it covered him in a thin, transparent film.

Blinking in confusion, Bellsprout burbled an apology for not being able to bring some color to his trainer, but instead of looking disapproving, Ash smiled.

"That was great, buddy!" he praised.

Still bewildered, Bellsprout danced and smiled as a drop of acid seeped from his mouth.

Even if the sunny day didn't expand fully over a wide space, Bellsprout's display was still admirable in Ash's eyes. Besides, Ash figured a smaller sunny day would be beneficial. It would stick to Bellsprout and not offer others the ability to use it. Other chlorophyll users would receive none of the added effects of sunny day, while Bellsprout would be able to keep up to speed.

Ash only knew the basics of sunny day, but judging from the way Bellsprout formed it from an orb, Ash assumed it could be focused quite well with the right control. Right now, though, Ash needed to teach Bellsprout to better use sunny day overall. "As great as it was, I think it can get better."

Bellsprout nodded.

"Try throwing the orb of light up in the air."

Another nod. Bellsprout formed a ball of light between his leaves, focusing much of his energy into it. He lifted it into the air, but it lost its glow instantly and fazed out of existence. Bellsprout couldn't help but feel this was going to be worse than learning giga drain. Why his trainer would ever choose this move over an offensive technique failed him.

"Try again."

* * *

The smell of ozone distorted Izzy's sense of smell, leaving her stomach churning. No matter how much she pawed at her muzzle, it wouldn't go away, making hunting impossible. When she attempted to use odor sleuth, the burning smell of electricity frying her came back full-force, making her wince. The elekid was more aggressive than any morpeko she'd ever met. At least when morpeko were angry, their wheel attack was made of dark energy, which Izzy could use to fuel her dastardly intent. That thunder was an absolute nightmare.

Izzy gritted her fangs, her hatred boiling like her blood had when struck with electricity. Scrapping her claws along the ground, she whipped up a quick dust bath, imagining the bits of dirt inflicting pain when getting in the electric-type's eyes.

Her anger slowly ebbed into a grin. That was it. Sand attack was a basic technique but also considered a dirty tactic. If Bellsprout could jab that grotle in the eyes with his vine, then sand attack, something learned by pidgey of all things, should be legal.

Izzy had many moves to master, but that didn't mean she couldn't start learning another. Sand attack would be her personal project while she would keep learning odor sleuth and improving her ice beam. Her quick attack was more than usable. It was nearing a mastery. The streak that trailed behind her when using the move was long and stayed as long as she held up the move. Her reflexes when using it were even getting better every time she used it.

Overall, Izzy saw no reason she couldn't start working on a new tactic, especially when it fit her too well.

Scanning her surroundings, she wondered if she could still catch some lunch even with one of her senses taken away. She stuck low to the ground and crept soundlessly. Every time she instinctively went to sniff a bit deeper, she halted her movements. She perked up when she heard a human voice. Lifting herself onto her hind legs to look over a bush, her ears retracted flat against her skull.

A girl dressed in electabuzz-inspired clothing sent out a tiny, yellow wooloo-looking pokémon. Izzy remembered seeing them, but never got their name.

"Alright, Mareep, you're pitching today! Give it your all with a fast-electro ball!" the girl cheered on as if an audience were watching.

The mareep held its knob of a tail up, the light bulb glowed and sparked shamefully little compared to Paul's Elekid. Izzy snickered. The tiny thing was outdone by the baby form of electabuzz.

Mareep narrowed its eyes and spun around to launch a tiny ball of electricity at the bush Izzy was behind, but it exploded before it could land.

"Mareep, what were you thinking?!" the girl called. "We aim for the trees when we train." Mareep put up its best aggressive stance, but the poor thing was too cute and fluffy to possibly find intimidating. "Mareep?" she questioned as said pokémon stepped over to the bush with a static pulse.

Izzy flashed her fangs with a grin before jumping from her spot. Mareep fell over, clearly not expecting someone to come out after such a warning.

The girl raised a brow. "What is that?" She tried scanning it with her PokéDex, but nothing came up. A smirk appeared on her face. "That must mean it's rare! Let's catch it, Mareep! Thunder wave!"

Izzy scoffed. Yeah, cause that was possible. But now was a good a time as ever to test the move she planned to blind every electric-type with. She steadied herself on all fours, digging one hand of claws into the dusty earth. Mareep was a lot more direct, rubbing its wool together to gather electricity before sending it at Izzy in waves. Whereas elekid's electricity was so fast that a blink would make you miss it, mareep's was the complete opposite. Izzy charged, digging up a cloud of dust, killing the weak electric current before bursting into mareep with a quick attack.

Mareep tumbled onto its back, legs struggling to stand itself up. Izzy's eye twitched. The strange trainer seemed annoyed. Whether it was at her pokémon or Izzy, it was hard to say.

After helping Mareep back up, the girl demanded: "Tackle it! Then use thunder wave."

Tackle? Izzy had ungraded from that basic move. Quick attack was the far superior move. More than eager to prove just that, Izzy charged forward, kicking dust behind her stream of white blur. She slammed into the mareep again and again from all angles as the little electric-type failed to keep up.

The girl didn't appear to know what to do.

Until Izzy's assault came to a screeching halt. With one particular blow, the friction of all her previous attacks built up enough electric current to stimulate the thing into paralyzing her. Growling, she shakily turned around to face the injured but still standing mareep. It had durability, she'd give it that.

"Static," the girl realized. "Perfect timing! Now, to catch it." She pulled out a pokéball.

Izzy's eyes burned at the sight. She tolerated her assigned ball and begin sucked into it, but the imagery of the blasted thing coming at her, her having no way to escape it — she wasn't about to experience that again. The moment the girl hurled it, Izzy sent a jagged beam of ice energy to freeze the ball, stopping it from coming any closer. It landed on the ground and instantly started thawing.

Realization shown in the girl's eyes. "You're already caught!"

Was it not obvious? Before another thought could be spared, Izzy shot another ice beam at mareep, sending the fluff ball into a tree with the sheer force of it, knocking it out instantly, like all those quick attacks should've done.

A great feeling came out of defeating it. Izzy looked to the branches overhead and began howling.

* * *

Bellsprout turned to see Izzy approaching the treeline, dropping the orb of light instantly and walking over to meet her halfway. He burbled and pointed at his scarf bow tie. She blinked and walked right past him.

Ash frowned when Bellsprout dropped the sunny day, but perked up seeing the little interaction. Izzy was either clueless or uninterested. "You get a good catch?" he asked. She'd been gone for a while and looked a bit scuffed up, but she shook her head. Not even a growl for added emphasis. "That's okay. We can head to eat with Sonia."

Izzy smiled, letting her tongue fall out the side of her mouth. She barked and took off running. "Hey! Izzy, slow down..." Ash sighed and held his arm out. "C'mon, buddy. I'm sure you'll like the food too."

Bellsprout stared at Ash's arm for a moment. He tilted his head.

"You can climb on me. Just don't let out any acid or poison powder," Ash offered.

Hesitantly, Bellsprout reached out his leaf arms and wrapped his vines around Ash's arm for better grip. He clung tighter when Ash lifted him off the ground as though he weighed nothing. "It's okay. I gotcha." He nodded and climbed onto his trainer's shoulder, vines still secure to Ash's arm. He faced upward to keep his acids from seeping out his mouth as Ash followed after Izzy in a light jog. It didn't churn his acids nearly as much as the TM machine did.

Izzy made it to Sonia's booth in record time, while Ash and Bellsprout dragged along at a magcargo's pace.

Sonia smiled down at Izzy. "I'm glad to see you made a full recovery."

Izzy barked, confused. How did Sonia know about that?

"Ash was so worried about you last night. He couldn't even finish his food."

Her eyes grew wide. Ash couldn't even finish his curry? How? It was amazing. Was it her injuries worrying him? Did he think she wouldn't survive or something? Izzy asked, but of course Sonia didn't understand.

"I'm surprised you're out so soon after taking a brick break and a thunder," Sonia commented.

Izzy scoffed. As if that would hold her back for long. Sure, it hurt. It actually hurt a lot, but she'd had worse when being captured. She doubted any fighting-type could compare to that strike. If she hadn't moved _just so_, the weapon would've skewered her. Of course, this lady didn't need to know that. No one did.

When Ash showed up with a disgruntled Bellsprout atop his head, Izzy didn't bother questioning. Just looked like Bellsprout was melting Ash's brain at this point.

"Since when did you have that thing?" Sonia asked.

Izzy hissed, not liking her teammate being called a mere thing. Even if that was what she called him at first.

Ash placed Bellsprout on the ground, where he drunkenly stumbled as per usual. "I've had Bellsprout from pretty much the start of my journey," he explained. "Izzy caught him the day after we started traveling."

Sonia blinked. "Izzy caught it. Not you."

"Exactly," Ash said sheepishly. "That's how I suspect everyone will react when I tell them." Thankfully a very small demographic sought such information. At least until he becomes a pokémon master. Then he'd have to explain it wasn't him that caught Bellsprout, but rather his ace, his partner, his zigzagoon, Izzy.

Not as humiliating as it first was anymore.

Sonia shook her head in disbelief but smiled nonetheless. "I'll whip up a quick batch of curry and then we can talk."

Izzy hopped up onto the counter, while Ash kept an eye on Bellsprout in case he ran off and tried stealing something. The grass-type stumbled back and forth. It could not have been that bumpy of a ride, but Ash wasn't going to comment on it, though his expression shifted into one of disgust when he saw several drops of acid leak from Bellsprout's mouth.

Sonia set down two bowls for Ash and Izzy. "Why not let Bellsprout try some?" she asked, offering a third one.

"Uh, well..." Ash considered. He saw no reason why Bellsprout couldn't have it. Though he also didn't see a point in it either. He'd been eating the light from sunny day for quite some time now. Shrugging, Ash took the bowl and set it next to Bellsprout, who looked at it, then at Ash as though he were crazy. "It's food. Go one, try it."

Bellsprout blinked.

"Izzy likes it."

Bellsprout used his vines to lift the bowl to his mouth. The moment it dripped into him, he recoiled, dropping the bowl instantly. He shook his head.

Ash sighed. "I guess he's not a fan." When he picked the bowl back up, he realized there was a notch taken out of it. "He kinda burned a hole in it. Sorry about that."

Sonia shrugged as she sat down to eat as well. "Doesn't matter. I'm guessing it's a poison-type."

"Yeah, though he can only use poison powder. I won't be teaching him acid until he's mastered sunny day," Ash explained between bites. Izzy had already licked her bowl clean. "He seems more than capable of producing plenty of acid, but it's the spitting it. It's also not corrosive enough. Maybe I'll get him the TM for sludge bomb and that will help..."

"Yeah, that won't work, kid," Sonia said.

"Huh?"

"You've got it all wrong. I've trained a weezing — a normal one from Galar — and I can tell you that sludge bomb is one of the 'ultimate' techniques." She used air quotes. "Meaning: they are what you strive his other moves to be."

"I'm not following..."

She frowned. "Come on. You're a smart kid. Keep up. Take poison gas, that move can easily develop into a highly offensive technique like smog when applied in such a way. The next natural extension would be making that smog attack more of a physical form, so sludge would be a good stepping stone. It's basic but has more punch than smog. And finally would be sludge bomb, the shaping of toxins. Able to hurl them at the opponent with more precision, and thus, more likely to poison and induce more pain. The works."

Ash let that sink in. It made sense when she explained it like that. "So acid can become sludge bomb. Does that mean I don't have to but the TM for it?"

"'Course not, kid. I will say, though, it's wisest to have toxic down-pat before working on sludge bomb, as it will make those poisons all the more toxic when combined. Toxic and venoshock will also come naturally with acid, even more so than sludge bomb, as those techniques have much of the same fluid motion."

Ash sighed, thankful Bellsprout's poison-type moves would come free of charge. "Are you a poison-type trainer?"

Sonia shook her head, expression falling. "Nah. Just someone who—Nevermind!" She forced a smile. "That doesn't matter anymore."

"Okay." Ash wanted nothing more than to pry but knew that wasn't wise. He was now on the edge of the treaty that'd yet to be announced. That was not a spot he ever thought he'd find himself; a spot he never considered, and one he didn't like. Being a new trainer was tough enough, getting used to it all, but with the added politics, he couldn't think of a worse spot to be in within the first couple of weeks into his journey.

The moment the thought ran through his mind, he regretted it. There were a lot worse situations to be in. He could be dead. Those Team Rocket members were more than eager to kill him. It was sheer luck that Viridian had an oddly fast Chansey and a clefable that had all the luck a gambler could hope for.

Sonia lifted a brow. "Really? You were so eager to learn yesterday, and now you're not going to take the chance to ask?"

"I can't force you to talk." Just like he couldn't force Izzy to listen.

"Wow. Kanto may be dull as white bread, but at least you guys don't invade others' personal life. My grandma could learn a little something from here." She saw Ash's confused expression. "She's the professor of Galar. She studies dynomaxing."

"Oh... As much as I want to learn more, being in the middle of this, I don't want to overstep my boundaries." He thought for a moment and concluded he may very well be the nosiest person in Pallet Town. Professor Oak was simply eager to learn more about the relationship between humans and pokémon. Ash's mom could be a bit pushy at times, but only to Ash, so he supposed that didn't count. Gary didn't care to know much about others to begin with. Damian minded his own business and set opinions quick. Leaf wasn't even from Pallet Town from what Ash gathered. Though there were a lot more folks in Pallet Town, they were even less intrusive that Ash hardly recognized their faces when he passed them by. Ash wanted to know as much as he could about most anything, but he knew to hold his tongue most of the time.

"I knew I didn't mistake your intelligence."

Ash's face grew warm at the compliment.

"It's probably not as bad as I made it out to be. It's just, uh... I lost my weezing to a Kantonian one," she said, trying to sound nonchalant about the matter, but the way her eyes glanced away told Ash all he needed to know.

"I'm sorry."

"For what? You didn't do anything."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Ash explained. "I couldn't imagine losing either of my pokémon."

"Best you don't try imagining it," Sonia said. "It'll drive you mad."

There was some hidden meaning in her words, but Ash couldn't quite figure them out.

"Are you done? I would like to close up right now," Sonia said.

He pushed too far. Ash nodded, standing up and recalling Bellsprout. "I'll be heading out of Viridian City soon, so I won't be able to visit anymore. Hope we meet again someday."

"Mutual hopes always come true."

* * *

"The battle lodge again? Are you sure, Iz?" Ash asked with a yawn. He'd gone to sleep late last night, and Izzy woke him at the break of dawn to drag him back to the spot of their first loss. Izzy still seemed rather bitter about said loss, as she stayed at the foot of the bed rather than in her usual spot by Ash's head. He supposed it was fair enough, though he couldn't find any reasonable way to get her to forgive him. Treating her to her favorite cooked meals hadn't worked, and neither had attempted affection. If anything, the affection wasn't appreciated in the least. Anger must have been more prominent for a dark-type given their nature to hold grudges and strike back until that grudge was consumed by the sheer hatred only a dark-type could manage.

At least she hadn't tried that.

Izzy nodded, again refusing to vocalize her body language.

"I don't know how many people will be here, but we can try finding someone at our level to battle," Ash said. Although he'd gotten up at daybreak, he took his time getting ready so it was possible someone was there to battle. He learned his lesson from last time. He wasn't battling anyone with the D-rank until he grew to that rank himself. There was too much risk in it. Paul may not have had any badges, but that didn't make him any less of a threat. Izzy and Bellsprout were great and could hold their own, but there was no use in pointlessly hurting them to fuel his pride.

They walked in and went through much of the same process as last time. The man at the desk laughed. "You're here to put your pokémon back in the hospital?"

Izzy growled.

"We're here to win something."

"Redeeming that thing's pride, I see." The man shook his head. "Paul isn't here. Left right after he buried your team, but there's an E-rank kid at the top floor waiting to battle. Don't know his name, but he has a sandshrew."

Ash nodded and started up the stairs with Izzy rushing past him. Sandshrew weren't known for much of anything. They were only fast when curled into a ball, weren't highly defensive, and never packed much of a punch when compared to other ground-types. Even as a sandslash, they were unimpressive since their natural control over the ground was meager. For a ground-type, that was considered unsightly. Few trainers seriously considered adding sandslash to their team for that reason, though their relatively vast movepool intrigued some. However, with their mediocre ground affinity, it wasn't expected that they'd be capable of using moves of other types effectively as say, a nidoking or rhydon.

Once at the top, Ash saw only one battle going on, between a drowzee and a furret. Ash watched for only a moment but looked away when furret buried itself underground. They were easily D-rank with a psychic-type and an evolved pokémon; few rookie trainers could hope to have either.

He walked over to the field the sandshrew boy was standing at, looking bored. He perked up instantly.

"So you're my next opponent." He laughed. "The name's A.J.. I hope you're ready for defeat because you're about to be mine and Sandshrew's one-hundredth defeated opponent!"

Ash lifted a brow. One-hundred opponents defeated? "If that's the case, why hasn't your sandshrew evolved?"

A.J. scoffed. "Evolution means nothing to us! He has an everstone implanted in his body so he can't evolve. He doesn't want to."

That was odd. Few pokémon refused evolution. Evolution meant they'd grown beyond a point where they could contain the power within them. It meant they could grow even stronger. Ash failed to understand what pokémon wouldn't want to evolve.

Izzy rumbled at Sandshrew, who shrugged.

"So a one-vee-one?" A.J. offered.

Ash nodded. "But since this is a special occasion for you, let's have a little bet."

A.J. smirked. "I like the way you think. Since your, uh, I'mma guess zigzagoon, hasn't evolved, I'll assume it hasn't won a hundred battles, so your money doesn't interest me. So, when I win, you give me your hat."

Ash's eyes grew wide as his hands instinctively went to his hat. It was the one his father won a few months before Ash was born as a sort of birthday gift. He won it after countless calls to the league. It was priceless in Ash's eyes, and perhaps in the masses' as well considering it was the last thing the league gave away before they shut down for much of Ash's childhood. The thought of handing it over tempted Ash to back out.

"And when I win?" he tested, still unsure.

"You get half of all my money," A.J. said.

"Three-quarters," Ash countered. He had no idea how much money this A.J. guy had, and he wasn't about to be handed a few hundred bucks because the guy beat up a bunch of bug catchers who had no money to begin with.

"Fine. I'll still be loaded either way. Not like you'll win."

"We'll see..." Ash mumbled. He knelt down to talk to Izzy. "I know we aren't on the best terms right now, but I need you to put your all into this. This hat, here, means a lot to me, so please listen to me."

Izzy narrowed her eyes and growled. If his demands didn't match her style of combat, how was she supposed to listen? She wasn't about to alter her way of surviving. She stepped over to the battlefield, where Sandshrew and A.J. were already standing. She snarled at the ground-type. The thing was foolish for not wanting to evolve. Knocking it down several notches would surely show that evolution was the only possible way of defeating her.

Ash initiated the battle: "Charge at it and use bite!"

Izzy smirked, her teeth flashing with dark energy before she launched herself forward. Sandshrew didn't await command, tucking itself into a ball before shooting into a rollout, kicking up sand in the process.

"Dodge it," Ash ordered.

Rather than follow through with Ash's command, Izzy opened her mouth as wide as possible, capturing the rolling sandshrew in its jaw. She winced as it kept spinning against her fangs. It tucked tightly into itself so it was only a little bigger than her head. It squeaked when she chomped her teeth into it, stopping its rolling instantly.

"Scratch," A.J. said calmly.

Sandshrew unraveled from its ball, making Izzy drop it instantly before swinging his rather stubby claws. Izzy went flush to the ground, ducking below the attack. She then shot forward with an improving white pocket against her skull, slamming into Sandshrew and tossing it across the battlefield.

"Izzy, you need to listen to me!" Ash called. His starter glanced back at him and nodded. Grinning, he ordered: "Good. Now use ice beam!"

Izzy was immediate, firing the ice beam at the far slower pokémon. Her aim was off by about a foot, touching the ground in front of the sandshrew before she directed it directly at sandshrew, leaving something more than frost but not quite the jagged pieces of ice rock ice beam usually formed. Before A.J.'s demand for: "Defense curl!" could reach Sandshrew's ears, the edge of ice beam trailed up to the ground-type's sensitive stomach, making it hunch over with a squeal.

Ash called out: "End it with a headbutt now!"

The moment the ice beam left, A.J. pumped a fist into the air. "Dig to get away from it!"

Already hunched close to the ground, Sandshrew needed no further incentive to burrow himself into the makeshift earth below. Although he didn't have the unlimited space the actual ground had, the building was kind enough to offer a good six feet worth of dirt to dig through. Sandshrew's sudden disappearance didn't deter Izzy, who followed it into the hole.

"Izzy, no!" Ash snapped. "Get back up here!"

"It's pointless! She can't hear you," A.J. said, stomping his foot. It took less than a second for Ash to realize A.J. was using the vibrations of his stomps to command Sandshrew. It must not have been at a level where it's ears could hear voices through the ground.

Ash expected the battle to remain underground from that point forth, which he admitted would've been a clever turnaround for A.J., but instead of sticking with the smarter alternative, Izzy came shooting out of the hole with Sandshrew curled against her gut, rolling impressively fast. She had once eye closed as she endured the strike. She could admit it wasn't her smartest move.

"Use your claws!"

Izzy tried digging her claws into Sandshrew's earthy-feeling skin and then decided to simply swipe her claws along it, stopping its assault instantly. The two landed several feet from each other, Sandshrew stumbling to catch his footing while Izzy caught herself.

"You have to listen to me, Izzy," Ash said. "If you don't, there's no way we can win."

Just as Izzy was about to turn to Ash, A.J. shouted: "You can't win anyway! Use dig again!"

Sandshrew launched into making another hole, something he seemed rather good at doing. That was one thing sandshrew were naturally skilled at, as they preferred escaping foe more so than confronting them. Izzy tensed, eyes scanning the field.

"Try to find it with odor sleuth."

Izzy sniffed, a slight glow forming around the bud of her nose. Dirt. Blood. It was hers. There wasn't even the faintest scent of the ground-type. As a rumbled gathered in her throat, the ground cracked and then erupted with Sandshrew, swiping at Izzy's face. She took half a step, the thing's claws tiny but sharp, slicing from the top of her throat up to the edge of her chin. She yelped.

"Finish with a rock smash, like we practiced!" A.J. ordered.

Ash cursed under his breath. Despite the move's name alluding to the rock-type, rock smash was indeed a fighting-type move. A weak one, but still one to fear considering Izzy's typing. Ash had no doubt Izzy could tank it considering she took a brick break to the gut days earlier, but he wasn't about to take such a risk of damaging her to such a degree again. Seeing as Izzy wasn't about to dodge even when Ash commanded, he instead ordered: "Growl to keep it from reaching you!"

Izzy snapped her eyes open and sent strong, white sound waves through the air, easily interrupting Sandshrew's incoming attack. Everything seemed to have a fighting-type move that she had to be extra cautious of now.

Once Sandshrew steadied himself, A.J. said: "Dig and then come up with a rock smash."

Not good.

Sandshrew dug itself into another hole. Izzy looked around, taking steps backward, unsure of where it would burst through. Her nose glowed slightly, but it was almost as if she didn't have the thing's scent registered in her dictionary of smells.

"Run around so it can't track you!"

Izzy bolted from one side of the field to the other. Although Sandshrew could sense the vibrations, it couldn't possibly keep up to speed. A.J. realized that and stomped his foot in demand. The field shattered at the exact spot Izzy had last stepped, missing her by only a hair. Launched in the air, Sandshrew used the momentum of propelling itself up that high to start rolling out again. Izzy turned around to face the spinning pokémon. It shot forward, coming straight at her.

"Dod—" Ash stopped himself instantly. Telling Izzy to dodge was pointless. "Jump into the air with it!"

A.J.'s expression melted into one of confusion.

Izzy bound high into the air, sailing over the rolling Sandshrew. "Kick it!" Ash called. In one swift movement, Izzy shot her legs out behind her, smashing her feet into Sandshrew with all her force. In that instant, Sandshrew tore through the air and plowed into the ground, whipping a billow of dust into the air.

Landing with a stumble, Izzy glanced over, awaiting the dust to clear. When it did, she smirked.

"Sandshrew!" A.J. cried out, running to aid his defeated partner. Picking it up, he wept: "How could we lose? I've defeated ninety-nine people up until now, and a rookie defeats me?!"

Izzy charged Ash, who caught her in his arms, smiling as she offered him a wet, slobbery kiss across the face. He'd normally find it gross, but in such a moment, where he knew Izzy had forgiven him, he couldn't find it in himself to be disgusted. "You were great, Izzy! I think I have you figured out now."

Izzy growled playfully, nuzzling into his neck. That was the entire purpose of the battle. Well, that and fixing her broken pride.

"Now I have to start over..." A.J. sighed, recalling his friend. Standing, he stepped over to Ash and held out his hand. "That was a good battle despite the undesirable outcome."

Ash took it with a shake. "It was good, but why do you have to start over?"

"I need to get one-hundred wins straight before I can start taking on gym battles," A.J. explained.

"That makes no sense but okay."

A.J. sighed once more, pulling out his wallet thick with money. He pawed through it before pulling out a massive wad of bills. "Three-quarters, as we agreed upon."

Ash took it, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. It wasn't one-dollar bills. No, they were hundreds. He counted them right then and there and almost choked on air. Twenty-five thousand. A.J. defeated ninety-nine trainers, but not just rookies. No way could rookies hand out that much money. A.J. defeated folks comparable to Paul's level, easily, to have this kind of money.

A.J. smirked. "Impressive, eh? That's what happens when you kick the asses of everyone in Pokémon Tech."

Ash facepalmed, no longer impressed.

* * *

**A/N: Hope I'm not giving them too many moves too soon. It'll slow down once they've developed a battling style alongside Ash. It's all one big learning experience right now.**

**On a similar note, Obstagoon has a pretty interesting movepool, but I'll be keeping bite/crunch because it a basic enough technique. I won't be adding any other moves that can't normally be learned unless Hoenn Linoone can learn it. The concept of TRs is terrible, though, so they won't enter the lore of this story; at least not until we reach the Galar arc. Until then, TRs will be something a Pokémon can learn progressively unless it's already a TM.**

**I wish Bellsprout had been in Sword/Shield; solar blade would've been an awesome move for this story!**


End file.
